Unwritten

Chapter Three





"Please, Hermione?" Susan begged as she followed the Gryffindor down the hallway.



The brunette shook her head sternly. "I don\'t know why you keep asking, Susan," she said. "I\'m not being part of anything that he\'s a part of."



"But, he\'s reformed!" the Hufflepuff insisted.



Hermione stopped in her tracks and turned sharply on her heel. Susan nearly bumped into her. The bookworm growled, "Is that what\'s he\'s told you? Let me give you a news flash. People like Draco Malfoy don\'t change. They don\'t reform. He will always be the arrogant, snobbish prejudice pureblood that he was."



"I never knew you to be the type to judge a book by it\'s cover, Granger," Draco said casually as he approached the pair. "If people don\'t change, then where\'s Weaselby?"



"See what I mean!" Hermione hissed as she wheeled around again to continue walking.



Draco grabbed her arm and she immediately began fighting him. "Let go of me, Malfoy!"



"Not until you listen to reason," he snapped.



She fumbled for her wand, but he quickly pulled it out of her hand and held it high above his head. "Just listen for once!" he growled.



"You will not force my hand," she argued.



"I\'m not trying to force your hand," he promised. "Just hear us out. You heard how good we are. We could be even better if you joined," he said. Then added quickly before she could interrupt, "If you just heard yourself sing..."



"I\'m not interested," she spat at him, glaring into his eyes. "I will not sing with the son of a foul, loathsome Death Eater!"



"Now who\'s the prejudice one?" he shot back at her.



"Give me back my wand," she ordered, coldly.



"Join our band," he countered.



Her eyes narrowed. "Give me back my wand."



He raised a single arched eyebrow at her. "Join our band," he repeated. "Or, at the very least, give us a chance. Try it, Granger. One month. Sing with us for one month. And if you don\'t like it, we\'ll leave you alone."



"You\'ll give me back my wand," she said again.



"I\'ll give you back your wand if you promise to sing with us for one month," he told her, his grey eyes looking deep into her honey eyes.



She opened her mouth, then shut it again. Finally, she sighed, "Fine, Malfoy. I\'ll sing in your band for one month. Just one, though. Now, give me back my wand."



He took her by the hand and led her the rest of the way out of the dungeon. "Malfoy!"



He smirked. "You don\'t think I\'m foolish enough to give you your wand back where there\'s no teachers around, do you?"



(II)



The band was a secret. And that\'s exactly how Hermione wished to keep it. She didn\'t want anyone to know she was part of that craziness. The fact that Malfoy was the guitarist in the band would be enough to send Harry and Ron over the edge of reason and straight into insanity.



Of course, Hermione had failed to inform Draco of her own ability to play a guitar. What he didn\'t know, he wouldn\'t use against her. Besides, the deal was that she would sing. She had no idea what she was singing, but she would sing. Nothing in their agreement mentioned her playing an instrument.



She and Susan walked to practice together. She was a bit peeved at the Hufflepuff, but she knew she would get over it. After all, she had no doubt it had been all Malfoy\'s idea to involve Susan. Then, she realized how intelligent his idea had been. Well, as intelligent as Hermione dared to give him credit for. Malfoy knew Hermione would say no to him, so he had gotten Susan to ask.



What Malfoy hadn\'t counted on was Susan\'s inability to lie. So, Hermione was able to ask Susan all sorts of questions about the band and what their goal was.



Susan\'s ambition was to become as popular as the Weird Sisters and promote interhouse unity. Anthony was in on it because he had heard that girls liked drummers. As for Malfoy...



Susan wasn\'t sure about Malfoy\'s reasons for joining the band. It was actually Malfoy who had formed the band. From what Susan could gather, he had been quite distraught and lonely after the war. His father was in prison, his mother was practically lost. He seemed to find solace in the music and it brought him great joy everytime they recorded another song.



"Things are going to change now that you\'re in the band, Hermione," Susan said as they entered the practice room.



The Gryffindor shook her head. "I\'ll only be here a month," she reminded her. "I wouldn\'t count on getting too attached to my singing voice."



"I haven\'t even heard your singing voice," Susan informed her. "The only one who has is Draco."



The boys stood up as the girls entered. Draco smiled. "It\'s good to see you made it, Granger," he said by way of greeting.



Hermione\'s eyes narrowed. "Let\'s just get one thing straight, Malfoy. One mention of my parentage and I\'m out. Got it?"



The blond threw his hands up in surrender. "I\'ve said nothing. And I will say nothing," he promised.



She was skeptical of his promise, but accepted it for what it was... for now. He handed her sheet music and grabbed his guitar. "Can you read that?" he asked.



She gave him an annoyed look. "Believe it or not, Malfoy, I do know how to read sheet music," she responded.



He nodded. "Good." He strummed his guitar and looked at her. "I want you to sing that song while I play."



She looked down at the paper. The song was easy enough, but she didn\'t like the connotations it brought. She wasn\'t ready to sing a love song, especially if Malfoy wrote it. "Can I sing another song?" she asked.



Draco raised an eyebrow. "This is the song we are practicing. So, this is the song you\'ll sing," he told her. "Just sing the chorus. I want the others to hear your voice."



"No, I\'ll start from the beginning," she said. "But, instead of a guitar, Susan, can you play piano?"



The Hufflepuff looked excited. "Yes, I can!" she said and quickly fixed her keyboard so it was pushing out piano tunes. She hit a few notes, then began playing the melody.



Hermione sang:



"Oh Oh



I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me

I still feel your touch in my dream

Forgive me my weakness but I don\'t know why

Without you it\'s hard to survive



Cause everytime we touch

I get this feeling

And everytime we kiss

I swear I could fly

Can\'t you feel my heart beat fast

I want this to last

Need you by my side



Cause everytime we touch

I feel the static

And everytime we kiss

I reach for the sky

Can\'t you feel my heart beat so

I can\'t let you go

Need you in my life..."



Susan stopped playing and she and Anthony just stared at Hermione. Draco smirked. "Told you she was good," he said as the other two began clapping.



"She\'s not good, Draco," Susan corrected. "She\'s fantastic! Wow, Hermione. I don\'t think I\'ve ever heard a voice like that before."



Hermione wrinkled her nose. "I\'m not that good."



Anthony chuckled, "No, just good enough to cause a shipwreck."



Draco laughed loudly and high-fived the Ravenclaw. Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?"



"Honestly, Granger," Draco snorted. "Haven\'t you ever heard of the Sirens?"



The Gryffindor rolled her eyes. "Of course I have! But I don\'t sound like one of them."



"No, you don\'t," Draco agreed. "Sirens are just mermaids. But, the myth is that they have really beautiful voices... if you live underwater."



"But we don\'t live underwater," Hermione pointed out, irritated and confused.



Draco nodded in agreement. "That\'s a good thing. Otherwise they\'d have some tough competition."

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Author\'s Note: Sorry about the delay. The song from the last chapter was "Headstrong" by Trapt. The song in this chapter is "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada.