Heaven And Hell

Once Again, none of the characters, creatures, or settings belong to me. All are copyright J.K. Rowling.
The Sins Of The father
Chapter 2

\"Are you all right, Draco?\" Hermione asked.

Ron snorted with laughter. \"Him? His Royal Death Eater-ness has never been \'all right\'. If you know what I mean...\" He said, tapping the side of his head with one finger, suggestively.

Hermione turned on him. \"Ronald Bilious Weasley, he may not be our best friend, but you could at least stand to be civil to him.\"

\"Why, Hermione? He\'s never bothered to be particularly civil to us. In fact, he\'s usually rather nasty.\" Ron retorted. \"Or have you forgotten Buckbeak? Or how \'bout second year when the Chamber was opened and he was telling everyone that we were the ones petrifying everyone?\"

\"We should be nice because we CAN. It doesn\'t matter that Draco\'s never been nice to us. We can still do the right thing.\" Hermione turned back to Draco and asked once more if he was okay.

Draco, surprised by Hermione\'s attitude and still confused by his dream said the first thing that came to mind. \"Why do YOU care?\"

Ron smirked and chotled behind Hermione\'s back, but was swiftly hushed by Harry. \"Quiet, mate. I want to see what happens.\"

\"Why does it matter,\" Hermione countered, \"You\'re my classmate, even though you\'re a Slytherin, you\'ve had a hard year and there\'s no real reason to be mean.\"

\"I don\'t need your pity, Granger!\"

\"Why would I pity you?\" She said, obviously annoyed and confused. \"Even though your father is in Azkaban, you still have enough money to keep any three families in comfort for the rest of their lives. You also still have your mother. Plus, you\'re old enough to understand that your father made his own decisions and paid the consequences for them. I don\'t really blame you for your father\'s actions and I don\'t see why everyone else does. You can still be an insufferable prig, but the sins of the father do not necessarily have to be visited on the son.\"

Draco sat back, astounded by Hermione\'s mature stance. He stared in thinly disguised horror at her. A Mudblood! Being KIND and acting concerned over HIM?! He had spent every one of his years at Hogwarts trying to make her life a living Hell, tormenting her about her ancestry, or lack thereof, and she had the heart to be KIND? What was she on about?

Draco sat up abruptly. He said \"excuse me\", quietly and practically ran out of the car. Behind him, he heard a burst of male laughter. It died quickly as Hermione rounded on the culprits. Draco searched the train for another suitable box, but to no avail. All the other boxes were either full of people with accusing eyes or contained people who refused to tolerate his company any more. Crabbe and Goyle were the worst. They tormented him over the fact that his father had been caught and theirs hadn\'t.

After Draco left, Hermione, Harry, and Ron stared at each other, startled. \"Excuse me if I\'m wrong, Hermione, but was Draco just POLITE to us? He\'s definitely gone batty. The shock of his old man getting caught must have sent him over the edge!\" Ron exclaimed. \"an\' he\'s left all his stuff... in easy reach for us. That\'s fair stupid!\" He reached for Draco\'s bag, obviously intending some mischeif, but pulled his hand away, smarting from a rap from Hermione\'s wand. \"Oi! What was that for?\" He yelled at her, clutching his stinging hand.

\"Ronald Weasley! You will not touch Draco\'s things! There\'s no reason for us to do anything to him. He hasn\'t played any tricks on anyone recently. He may have changed!\"

\"Like hell he has! Anyways, I happen to like the idea of revenge!\"

\"Yeah, he\'s never hesitated to give us a hard time. Why should we hesitate now, when we have the chance?\" Harry chimed in. \"Personally, I think a timed engorgement charm on his pants so they\'ll fall down...\"

\"Harry! I thought better of you! He\'s not responsible for the way he\'s been brought up! We shouldn\'t punish him for the way his father raised him. Why he may make a complete turnaround with his father out of the way!\"

The door of the car slammed open and a rather grouchy Draco stormed in and sat himself down in the corner. He turned himself towards the window, away from their curious faces and settled in for a nice long sulk. It didn\'t help that, as the day outside waned, it became increasingly easier to see the trio\'s reflections in the window.

After a bit, the portly witch with the food cart came around and, as usual, Harry bought enough for his friends and more. Hermione sent him an inquisitive glance. He sighed and rolled his eyes but nodded.

\"Draco? Would you like some?\" Hermione offered, glaring at Ron for his yip of denial. \"There\'s more than enough for everyone. Here.\"She held out a Pumpkin Pastry to Draco. \"Promise I won\'t tell anyone.\"

He looked at it suspiciously, but since he didn\'t have any money, he had been watching their every move with the food and he hadn\'t seen them do anything to it. He slowly reached out and took the pastry from Hermione\'s hands. Draco\'s fingers brushed Hermione\'s as he withdrew the pastry from her hand. They both shivered at the contact, their eyes meeting for a brief moment. the exchange went unnoticed by the other occupants of the car.

Draco unwrapped the Pumpkin Pastry and bit into it, his eyes locked on the person who had given it to him. Hermione had gotten rather pretty in the past year. After that time when he had engorged her front teeth, Madame Pomfrey had shrunk Hermione\'s already quite large teeth to less than their original size. The Gryffindor girl had also chosen to tame her unruly sable hair with a loose braid, which framed her face, but didn\'t overpower it anymore. She had also grown a figure..., which was shown off to quite an advantage by her low-cut jeans and slim-fitting tee shirt.

Hermione watched Draco eyeing her from the corner of her eye. He was handsome in a pale, lordly way. The Slytherin was now over six feet talla nd had acquired a lithe, muscled body from playing Qwidditch. He kept his platinum blonde hair combed back from his pale face so it didn\'t get in his cold grey eyes. Only they weren\'t cold right now. They held a speculative heat as they perused her body. It made her shiver inside. Draco ran his pink tongue sensuously over his lips, savoring the last crumbs of his pastry.

Hermione blushed and looked down, but handed Draco another item from the rapidly diminishing pile of food on the seat of the car.

The four students managed to somewhat bury the hatchet and, if they didn\'t have the time of their lives on the train ride, they didn\'t exactly NOT enjoy themselves.

Once the train had stopped across the lake from the school, Draco went his own way. It was one thing to have a non-verbal pact of non-agression while stuck in the same box on the train, but it was quite another to allow the other students to witness Draco Malfoy hanging out with Harry Potter, the Mudblood, and a Weasley. He felt a pang of petulant jealousy as he heard Hagrid\'s voice bellow out his accustomed \"All Ri\' \'Arry?\" over the din of disembarking students.

Draco got into one of the appartntly horseless carraiges that would carry everyone except the first-years up to the castle. He would never admit to anyone that he could see the creatures that actually pulled them. That was supposed to be a sign of madness, wasn\'t it?

He found himself sharing the space with the Creevy brothers and Loony Luna Lovegood. Great. Just what he needed: Two loquacious gossips and a crazy girl. He had just gotten himself settled, with the obligatory sneer on his face, when Luna turned to him and asked him who he\'d seen die. Draco almost choked.

\"What the-?! What are you talking about, you batty girl?\"

\"The thestrals. Only a person who has seen death can see them. Who was it? Who did you see die?\" Luna seemed more focused than usual, although her sense of tact was as absent as ever.

The Creevys reliably started quizzing Luna on the thestrals, saving Draco from having to think up a suitable reply to Luna\'s question. Gods! Even sharing a train car with Potter and his entourage was better than this! Draco gritted his teeth and stolidly ignored the other occupants of the carraige, rminding himself that he\'d soon be at the school and away from their prattle.

However, when they reached the castle, he was unable to stop his eyes from being drawn to the creepy beasts that stood in the traces of the carraiges. He caught Potter glancing at them as well. Well, if what Loony Luna had said was true, then it wasn\'t any surprise that The Boy Who Lived could see the thestrals.

Draco made it through the banquet by dint of completely tuning out his surroundings, although it was a strain that left him exhausted by the time the students were allowed to leave the Dining Hall. He went straight to his bed and fell asleep quickly, even with his roommates whispering about him late into the night.

This year was going to be hell...