Blood traitor

Sorry that it took me so long, but since I posted the last chapter many things happend In my life. I gave birth to my baby, and then appeared that my son is a verry absorbing child. But now, when he is a little older I hope it would be easier to post the rest of my story.

In the following days, Hermione tried to visit Madam Pomfrey several times, but because she still didn’t feel ready, she always found an excuse not to follow through. Sometimes the reason was too many prying patients and sometimes it was because she got sidetracked by friends she met along the way, who asked her for help with their homework. To reduce her remorse, she visited the library each time to learn more about the pregnancy and to find answers to questions that she should be asking Madam Pomfrey.

One of these visits explained the most recent reactions of her body, which she couldn’t understand. She constantly felt aroused and could not stop thinking about what Malfoy had done to her body the last time they were together and what he could have done if he hadn’t stopped. From one of the books, she learned that in the second trimester of pregnancy, most women experienced a significant increase in libido, which was absolutely normal. Hermione felt that the term ‘significant’ was not enough to describe her condition. For her to become aroused, it was enough to feel fabric touching her breasts, accidentally brush against one of her colleagues or even look at the medical illustrations in the books she recently perused.

Most women could solve that problem easily, because they were in normal relationships where they could count on their loving husbands or boyfriends. She was not so lucky. When she realized that she wouldn’t be able to keep fighting those feelings for much longer, she became convinced that she almost certainly would do it with Malfoy when the first opportunity appeared. However, she was also sure that she would feel too embarrassed to ask Malfoy to go further in his actions. Besides, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that she wanted sex more than he did. That’s why she preferred to suffer with her unfulfilled desires. She decided to wait for Malfoy to start something, and then she graciously wouldn’t tell him no.

*****

It had been almost a week since their last meeting when the Slytherin silently dropped a note on her bench while leaving the potions classroom. He proposed a walk by the lake after dinner. Later, when Hermione passed him in the hall, she caught his eye and nodded silently, accepting the time and place of the meeting.

It was a warm May evening when Draco and Hermione walked through the area surrounding the school. They chose a secluded place away from the castle, Hagrid's hut and the Quidditch pitch, so that no one would see them together. As usual, they argued about everything. They were bickering about the ministry's policy when a school owl flew towards them. The bird hovered over them and when Draco stretched out his arm, the owl landed and stuck out a leg that had a note attached to it. The boy unrolled the parchment and read it.

“This is from Dumbledore,” he explained. “We have to go to his office immediately.”

“Finally,” Hermione replied with relief and smiled. “I was wondering when he would call us.”

“I will run first, so no one will see us together. Meet me by the gargoyles,” suggested Draco.

“Ok,” she agreed immediately, forgetting that she had been angry with him a moment before. His mood also improved greatly, because just like Hermione, he had been waiting impatiently for a message from the headmaster. Happy about the summons, he grabbed her face and kissed her goodbye on the lips. Then he smiled and ran over to the castle. Hermione waited a moment and then, without any hurry, she followed him.

She reached the headmaster's office after a few minutes and Draco was waiting for her by the stone gargoyles.

“Pepper Imps,” they said in unison and the gargoyles parted, allowing them entrance.

When they knocked on the door and heard encouragement from the headmaster, they went inside. As soon as the door closed behind them, they saw three seats in front of the headmaster’s desk; there sat Harry, Ron and Ginny.

“What are they doing here?” Ron asked with resentment in his voice.

“I invited them here, Mr. Weasley,” the headmaster answered calmly. “Sit down, my dears,” he said, then he waved his wand and two additional seats appeared in the room. After Hermione and Draco sat down uncertainly, Dumbledore stood up. “So, since you are all here, I think I can now leave you to clarify the misunderstandings between you all.” No one even tried to protest and Dumbledore closed the door behind him. Harry and Ron moved their seats as far away as possible from Hermione and Malfoy. Then they took accusatory poses, with their arms folded across their chests.

“So, will you once again tell us that you are not a couple?” Ron asked angrily. Hermione and Draco looked at each other and didn’t answer. “Ha, so you are!” said Ron, triumphant.

“It's complicated, you won’t understand until we tell you everything from the beginning,” explained Hermione.

“Well, we are listening. I think we have no choice, since the headmaster forced us. But you cannot make us to believe what you say,” said Ron with irritation in his voice. Harry and Ginny didn’t say a word, waiting for explanations.

“I'll tell you everything, but please don’t interrupt, because it's very difficult for me to say all this,” requested Hermione.

“Yeah, sure, it’s not the same as shagging him in an empty classroom,” Ron laughed derisively.

“Ron!” exclaimed Hermione, annoyed. “It was the influence of a potion that someone gave to us as a joke!”

“A potion! What nonsense! This is not an explanation. If it was a one-time thing you wouldn’t have met so many times later!” Ron was upset. “And this! What is it?!” he asked, pulling out the piece of parchment that they had found among Hermione’s things. Hermione blushed. “It sounds like spells to check the purity of blood. Everything fits: your meetings with him and your pure blood.”

“What?” Draco and Hermione asked at the same time, amazed by this conclusion.

“What pure blood?” asked Hermione.

“Once, I came to the library and overheard you talking to Malfoy. You said that your blood is as pure as his and he said that it was you who planned to use Kreacher to lure me into the ministry. Then you said that you are a couple and one day you will get married,” explained Harry. As soon as he finished, Hermione began to laugh hysterically. “What is it?” Harry asked, surprised.

“You didn’t hear the whole conversation. That day, Malfoy called me a Mudblood and said that my blood is dirty. I replied that there is no dross in there and that he was well aware that my blood is as pure as his.” She put emphasis on the last words. “When he said that I was responsible for Kreacher, he was being sarcastic.” Harry had the impression that, with just a few more clarifications from Hermione, their whole theory would collapse with a bang. But he couldn’t let go without a fight.

“And what’s this? Some kind of secret code?” he asked, snatching the parchment from Ron’s hand and giving it to Hermione.

“First, it's very unkind of you to go ransacking through my stuff.” Harry and Ron didn’t look even a little bit confused. “Ginny, shame on you. How could you let them persuade you to do this?!” Knowing that the boys couldn’t get into her dormitory, Hermione immediately guessed that it was Ginny who searched through her belongings.

“We had to know what was going on and why you were meeting with Malfoy,” explained Harry.

“Maybe you should have just asked me instead of building you own theory on the subject,” Hermione complained.

“Stop it already. You better tell us what it means. We want to know everything on this sheet: the shortcuts and use of spells,” Ron demanded without losing his arrogant tone.

“As you wish,” Hermione replied and looked at the paper. “These are diagnostic spells for women 12 to 16 weeks pregnant, hence ‘pw’. The Leukotus spell checks if the blood of the mother and child is free from bacteria, or ‘bac’. The Oxygeum spell indicates whether or not the umbilical cord is providing the child with the appropriate amount of oxygen, or ‘ox,’ for development, and alererum tests the amount of nutrients, or ‘nut’. Longitudo assesses if the child is the appropriate size for the week of pregnancy, and ‘fb’ is a shortcut for fetus body. Amplito is used to find out if the child will be magical or a Squib. And, ‘f’ stands for fetus.”

Draco watched with some satisfaction as the three Gryffindors still had no idea what Hermione was talking about.

“Why do you need it?” Harry asked hesitantly.

“Because after that one time you saw us, I became pregnant. That's why we met so many times afterward,” Hermione replied in a shy whisper.

“What?” Harry and Ron asked in chorus, getting up from their seats. Ginny looked as if the information hadn’t sunk in yet.

“Granger is pregnant with my child,” Draco said in a bored tone while looking at his perfectly manicured nails.

“Hermione!” Ginny now screamed, scared by the news, then she covered her mouth with her hand.

When Harry and Ron finally understood the information, their mouths silently opened and closed like fish pulled from the water. Malfoy enjoyed the view, knowing that he didn’t often see Potter and Weasley in that state.

“That's why I met with Malfoy and we eventually decided to try to be together. I don’t want my child to grow up in an incomplete family. It wasn’t an easy decision for me, because there are still a lot of differences between us, as well as grievances and misunderstandings, but in the future, I don’t want to regret not trying to make it work,” Hermione continued her explanation.

“And why did you accept Hermione and the baby so easily?” Harry turned to Malfoy when he finally regained his voice. “What are you up to? Your parents and your master won’t be thrilled when they find out about this.”

“Neither of us wanted this, but the child already exists and Malfoy wants to take responsibility,” Hermione said.

“So you accepted the Muggle-born girl and the Half-blood child out of decency? I don’t believe it,” said Harry.

“It was also hard for me to believe, but then he saved me from that bookcase during DADA class. I visited him in the hospital wing to talk about it. I still didn’t want to believe that he worried about me, but then he went to you, to try to convince you to talk to me,” Hermione continued to explain.

“And what does this have to do with―with...the child?” Ron asked suspiciously.

“Because we're at war and because I now have to protect my child, and thus Granger. I would like to know that there is someone who can help me with this. As her best friends, you were the most suitable,” explained the blond.

“Hermione, I'm sorry!” Ginny screamed. She got up from her chair, ran to her friend and hugged her. Hermione didn’t protest, but she didn’t return the embrace either. She was still bitter that her friends had doubted her so easily.

“Malfoy, somehow I don’t want to believe in your change of heart. First you call her names, and now this?” asked Ron.

“I won’t convince you, so I won’t even try,” said the Slytherin. He didn’t want to explain anything to them. The important thing was that Granger was on his side.

“Then tell me why you were visiting the Room of Requirement for a few months?” Harry attempted to bring up his other suspicions.

“That is none of your business,” Malfoy replied angrily. “Dumbledore knows everything and if he didn’t tell you, maybe he thinks that you can’t be trusted,” Draco finished, feeling the satisfaction of bringing the Boy-Who-Lived to heel. Harry's hands curled into fists and he began to rise, but Ron stopped him. Then they both sat, staring at Malfoy with hatred and suspicion.

At that moment, the door opened and Dumbledore came in.

“And so, have you explained everything to each other?” he asked with a smile.

“Almost,” Harry replied without taking his eyes from the Slytherin.

“Very good. Very good.” Dumbledore was glad. “In that case, Harry, Mr. Weasley, Miss Weasley, you can leave us alone now, because I have something to discuss with Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy.”

“Yes, sir,” said Harry and all three of them got up from their seats.

“Oh. There is one more thing. Don’t tell anyone what you have learned here,” the headmaster instructed.

“Yes, sir,” they replied in unison and left the office.

“Well, my dears,” Dumbledore began when there were only the three of them. “I was thinking of how to ensure Mr. Malfoy’s safety during the holidays. Mr. Malfoy, you turn seventeen on the fifth of June, am I right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very well. Then, as an adult wizard, you can spend your holidays wherever you want and no one can hold the school accountable if you don’t show up at your family home.”

“What will happen to me? Where will I spend the holidays?” inquired Draco.

“I was wondering of a place where nobody would look for you, Mr. Malfoy, and I finally came up with a solution. Miss Granger, I have already spoken to your parents and acquainted them with Mr. Malfoy’s situation, but only in general terms. I managed to convince them to help.”

“I don’t understand.” Hermione was surprised.

“No one knows what has happened recently between you two. Everyone thinks that Mr. Malfoy hates Muggles, so no one will look for him among them, especially in the house of a student with whom he never gets along with. Mr. Malfoy, you will spend the holidays at the Grangers’ house,” the headmaster explained.

“What?” Draco was vividly upset. “Me with Muggles?!”

Hermione felt a bit offended that Draco saw holidays spent with her ​​family as such a terrible ordeal, but she realized that he had not fully rid himself of his prejudices.

“Mr. Malfoy,” continued Dumbledore. “If such a thing is impossible for even you to imagine, then it would be the same for everyone else. Believe me that no one will look for you there.”

Draco didn’t say anything and just nodded. He wasn’t going to argue with the headmaster, but decided that he would write a letter to his parents asking for their help as soon as possible.

“But sir, we can barely stand meeting with each other every few days and now you want us to spend more than two months together!” noted Hermione. Malfoy was her boyfriend, but she couldn’t see him talking with her parents and eating lunch with them. She thought he wasn’t ready yet. She believed that one day it would change, if she didn’t kill him first. She was afraid that spending the whole holiday together would be too much for her nerves.

“Miss Granger, I'm sure that it will work out in the end,” Dumbledore said, downplaying her fears.

“You said you spoke to my parents,” Hermione responded, changing the subject. “What did you say to them? I hope you didn’t tell them about the baby, because I wanted to do it myself.”

“Don’t worry Miss Granger,” he said, calming her. “I just told your parents that the life of one of the students is at stake and that it would be safest for him to spend the holidays among Muggles. I told them about Draco’s situation very briefly, but did not mention your involvement in the case. I also told them that you two have become closer lately, and that’s why I asked them for help. I think that whatever you choose to tell your parents, it won’t be inconsistent with what I said,” the headmaster explained.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, I can’t just get off the train at King’s Cross station and join Granger and her parents as if nothing happened. My mother will certainly be there to take me home,” said Draco, worried.

“It’s best if you write a letter telling your mother that you made a decision not to go back home for the holidays and send it to her from the train.”

“But sir, she could still come to the station and take me,” opposed Draco. He knew that he and his mother would have to pretend that nothing was out of the ordinary, because everybody was supposed to think that his mother wanted him to spend the holidays at Malfoy Manor.

“Take it easy, Mr. Malfoy,” the headmaster said, smiling. “Your mother won’t take you home because she won’t find you among the other disembarking students.”

“How?” asked both Draco and Hermione.

“You will get on the train, but you won’t get off the train. We will need help from Miss Granger.”

The two students sitting in front of the headmaster became more interested in what he had to say.

“What should I do?” Hermione asked.

*****

Harry, Ron and Ginny sat in the Gryffindor common room on the seats in the farthest corner. They arranged the chairs to face each other closely, so that they could talk freely and nobody would hear them. But no one paid attention to the three whispering in the corner, because people were accustomed to the fact that Harry Potter and his friends always had secrets that they didn’t want anyone else to know about.

“Do you think it's all true?” wondered Ron.

“Don’t be silly. Of course it is,” Ginny answered him. “We have been looking for explanations for so long but we should have just asked Hermione.”

“I think we should apologize to her,” noted Harry. “She is innocent.” After a while, however, he added, “But I'm sure that Malfoy doesn’t have pure intentions.”

“Of course he does not! I won’t believe that he became so noble all of a sudden,” Ron said, agreeing with him. “We have to make Hermione realize it.”

“We can’t let him use her for his own purposes,” added Harry. “She is already in a terrible situation. Can you imagine how she must feel being pregnant at the age of seventeen and because of that git?”

“Poor Hermione. Imagine what she had to go through these last few months.” While she spoke, Ginny's face was full of compassion for her friend. At the same time, the entrance to the room opened and the person they were talking about walked in.

“Hermione!” Ron cried and waved to her. The other Gryffindors looked at him, amazed. All of them were aware of the conflict between Hermione and Ron, Harry and Ginny. The three of them had not spoken to her for a long time, and suddenly, as if nothing had happened, Ron was smiling and calling out to her. Hermione didn’t respond to the smiles from the other three, but she did not ignore them either. She just walked over to them.

“Yes, Ronald?” she asked without a shadow of a smile.

“Are you angry?!” Ron was surprised and his sister immediately nudged him in the stomach with her elbow.

“No, I'm not angry at you. After all, you only accused me of cheating on you and conspiring with Death Eaters without giving me a chance to explain. You didn’t speak to me for months. And all of this happened during a very hard time for me. No, I’m not angry,” she answered sarcastically.

“Hermione, we wanted to apologize to you,” Harry said, and all three heads lowered in shame.

“I should have expected it from Ron, because such behavior has happened from him before, but you, Harry? I thought we were friends and that we trusted each other?”

“I'm sorry. It's because everything somehow fit. I promise that we won’t make that mistake ever again. We will always trust you and we will hear what you have to say first, before we draw any conclusions,” Harry continued his apology.

“Yes, we promise,” echoed Ron, and Ginny nodded. Hermione reached for the chair behind her, moved it closer to her friends and sat facing them.

“It won’t be easy for me, but our friendship has lasted for too long to just give it up,” she said when her eyes met theirs. “Of course, I'm still upset that you didn’t trust me and it won’t be easy to just forget about it.”

“We are aware of this,” Ginny said with understanding. “It must have been scary when you found out that you were pregnant with Malfoy’s child,” she said, changing the subject.

“You can’t even imagine, Ginny.”

“And that potion...” continued the red-haired girl.

“What's done is done,” Hermione replied, not wanting to go back to those painful memories.

“I hope that everything will work out now. Dumbledore knows that it was not my fault and next year I can continue my education. It will be hard with the baby, but Malfoy promised to help.”

“Hermione, how can you trust him!?” Ron burst out. “We are talking about the ferret, after all!”

“Because I can, Ronald!” Hermione's lips thinned in anger. “He's the father of my child and he was with me when you turned away! He went with me to Dumbledore and he is willing to be exposed to his parents' anger and be disinherited in order to take care of me and the baby,” she managed through clenched teeth.

“He has an ulterior purpose!” the redheaded boy said, still irritated. “He was the one who probably gave the potion to you!”

“You’re doing the same thing again, Ronald! You’re tossing around charges for which you have no proof! And tell me, what would his purpose be?”

“Hermione, no offense, but it seems really unlikely that he has changed his views. After all, he hated you not so long ago,” Harry said, supporting Ron.

“Now, I know a lot more about him than you do. I made my decision guided by common sense and don’t even try to convince me to change my mind. I want to have a normal family, so I'm going to seize the opportunity for this chance.”

“We are your family. We could take care of you. I could take care of you,” declared Ron.

“Don’t make me laugh! You were not with me when I needed you. And well, you're dating Lavender; she probably wouldn’t be happy with that.”

“But I don’t want to be with her. Here is another advantage to this solution; I would have a reason to break up with her. Can you see how this can be easily solved,” insisted Ron.

“How are you going to take care of me, if you can’t even break up normally with a girl? I won’t let you use me as an excuse!” Hermione answered and Ron's face reddened with shame. Thoughts about Lavender had tormented him for a long time and he would give a lot to have someone solve the problem for him.

“And if I break up with her, would you leave Malfoy?” he asked hopefully.

“No,” she answered shortly.

He gave her a look of incomprehension.

“I have given Draco a chance.” She used his name on purpose to make Ron realize that everything had changed now. Once, she would have been happy with Ron’s proposal of them being together, but now her life was very different. Hermione realized that her feelings for the redhead really had changed and that at some point, he ceased to be the ideal candidate for her boyfriend.

*****

Draco was terrified with the idea of spending the holidays among Muggles, so soon after he left the headmaster’s office, he wrote a letter to his mother. He complained about Dumbledore’s plan and asked for help with inventing an alternative solution. Two days passed before the reply finally came. Draco opened the letter full of hope, but to his great disappointment, it wasn’t what he expected.

 

Dear son,

 

Your reluctance to agree to Dumbledore’s plan is absolutely understandable. I don’t even want to imagine how hard it would be to stay with dirty and stupid Muggles for over two months. However, your father and I have decided that this solution seems to be the safest option for you and our family.

 

Dumbledore is right; that Muggle house is the last place on Earth where the Dark Lord would look for you. So, for your safety you have to grit your teeth and somehow endure those two months, especially since you will have to keep an eye on the Mudblood and watch for anything that might endanger the child. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in order to achieve your goal.

You are not the only one to make contributions to our common welfare. As it turns out, my efforts have paid off. Ever since the whole thing with the Mudblood, my ears and my eyes were opened even wider than usual. Today, I was able to find out that if you fulfilled the orders of the Dark Lord, the next step would be the occupation of the Ministry of Magic. I don’t know what he is planning in the event of your failure, but I think you should immediately pass this information on to Dumbledore.

 

The Mudblood would be in mortal danger if the Dark Lord were to take over the Ministry. The Dark Lord would certainly and quickly pass legislation that would allow or even dictate the elimination of such creatures as she. Then she would not be safe in her own Muggle home or even at Hogwarts, which would be placed under the control of the Dark Lord.

 

I hope you understand the gravity of the situation and will immediately follow my instructions. Remember that both your father and I love you and will always be on your side.



                                                                                                                            Love, Mum

Draco was devastated. His last resort, his parents, failed because they supported the headmaster’s plan. He had no choice but to come to terms with the vision of a nightmarish Muggle holiday.

Having resigned himself to the idea, Draco started for the headmaster’s office to tell him about the Dark Lord’s plans. He quickly arrived at the stone gargoyles, which slid open as soon as he uttered the valid password. He stood at the door of Dumbledore’s office and was about to knock when he heard voices coming from inside.

“Sir, how could you even think such a thing?! I’m sure there is another solution?” said the Boy-Who-Lived, irritated.

Draco cocked his ear. He never imagined that the boy who almost worshipped Dumbledore would question something the old wizard said.

“Believe me, Harry, that there is no other way out of this. That's how it must be,” the old man said to him quietly.

“He can’t do that!” Potter was upset.

“He has to do it,” said the headmaster.

“It can’t end like this!” Draco strained his ears even more. “What can’t end like this? Who can’t do what?” he wondered.

“Death is not the end,” said Dumbledore calmly. “Remember the most important thing is for you to carry out the mission.” Chills ran down Draco’s back. Whose death were they talking about? What were they fighting about? Did this have something to do with him?

“Is it necessary for him to help me!?” said the irritated boy. “He is a Death Eater! He would use the situation to his advantage!”

“I have told you many times that you're wrong about him. He has realized his mistakes and he is on our side.” Draco thought that they were talking about him, but he didn’t know how he could help Potter. The headmaster had not told him anything about it.

“I know I'm right about him!” yelled Harry and soon after, the sound of glass breaking and metal hitting the floor was heard. It sounded like someone was in a rage and smashed all the instruments in the office. Draco was amazed by this outbreak of fury.

“Expeliarmus!” Potter’s voice was suddenly heard.

“Harry, that really wasn’t necessary,” said Dumbledore calmly. “You didn’t have to disarm me. I just wanted to fix what you destroyed.”

“I'm sorry,” answered the clearly ashamed and embarrassed Potter.

“It's ok. At least I know that you have good reflexes and that no one would surprise you in a fight,” Dumbledore replied with a laugh.

“Is there really no other way?” asked The-Boy-Who-Lived much more meekly.

“Yes. Harry, you promised me when we were in the cave that you would obey me in everything.”

“What cave?” wondered Draco.

“Nothing has changed since then. I want you to promise me that you will trust him and you'll do everything to make the relationship between you two improve. Together, you can handle the difficult task that awaits you.”

“Yes, sir,” answered the defeated Potter.

At this point, Draco thought it was the end of the conversation and knocked on the door.

 

“Come in,” the headmaster said, inviting him inside, and Draco opened the door. When he passed Potter, Draco saw absolute hatred in the eyes of the dark-haired boy.

While he told the headmaster about the Dark Lord's plans, his thoughts ran away to the argument he overheard. He wondered what it meant and whether it had any impact on his safety. Draco came to the conclusion that he could learn more from Granger, but their relationship was still not good enough for her to betray Potter’s secrets.

*****

Narcissa Malfoy walked along the dark hall with the carpeted floor. The portraits of pale figures hanging on the walls watched her curiously as she passed by. When she reached the massive wooden doors, she hesitated for a moment, and then turned the brass knob. In the middle of the living room stood a long, polished table and the darkness prevailing here was brightened only by the fire roaring in the fireplace. A heavy mirror in a gilded frame hung above the fireplace.. After a while, when her eyes had adjusted to the pervasive gloom, Narcissa noticed a figure sitting at the head of the table. At first, she saw only the person’s silhouette, but when she came closer, she saw a pale face with narrow slits instead of nostrils, and glowing red eyes with vertical pupils.

“Narcissa,” Voldemort greeted her sincerely, it seemed.

“Did you call me, my Lord?” she asked.

“Yes. I wanted to talk to you about Draco.” A shiver ran down Narcissa’s back. “The school year has almost come to an end and your son still hasn’t completed his task.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“I am very disappointed. Lucius failed me first and Draco is failing me now. I'm starting to think that your family is completely useless to me, especially now, since your sister was murdered.” Anger could now be heard in Voldemort's voice, but he still tried to hide it.

“My Lord, I am disappointed with Draco as much as you are. He should follow the example of his late aunt, not my husband, who let you down. If it turns out that Draco doesn’t fulfill his mission by the end of the school year, I will renounce him and let you punish him. He brings shame to my family with his ineptitude, like Lucius.”

“Narcissa, you criticize your husband and son, but you also haven’t done anything for me.”

“My Lord, just tell me what to do and I will do it,” she replied. “Although, only I can bring Draco to you,” she added nervously after a moment.

“Why do you think so?” Voldemort asked curiously.

“If I don’t go to pick him up from the station, Draco will realize that something is wrong and he will run away. It would be hard for the Death Eaters to find him in a crowd of people without making a commotion. However, if I greet him as a mother who only wants to get her beloved son home, Draco will go without resistance.”

Voldemort nodded, agreeing with the woman’s argument.

“Narcissa, I don’t quite believe your assurances, so if you don’t bring him to me, I think you should be punished instead of Draco,” he said after a moment of thinking.

“Yes, my Lord,” she answered and bowed low.

“And now, have a taste of what awaits you if you let me down. Crucio!” The spell shot from wizard's wand and went straight onto Narcissa. She fell to the ground and began to scream and writhe in pain. Cruel and vindictive satisfaction appeared on Voldemort’s snakelike face.

At the same time, Draco celebrated his seventeenth birthday with the other Slytherins, unaware of his mother’s predicament. He couldn’t spend that day with Granger, because his disappearance on such a special occasion would arouse the suspicions of his fellow Slytherins. Hermione had sent him a gift the day before. It was a simple photo album in beige leather binding. Draco decided that this was a very useless gift that would be better for a sentimental fool from Hufflepuff. He didn’t quite know what images he would collect in this album. Maybe Granger gave him the album thinking that he would start to gather photos of their happy family, which could continue to grow. Draco laughed to himself; Granger was really naive.

*****

Days passed and Draco felt increasingly frustrated. Not only was he upset about the upcoming holiday with the Muggles, but he was also annoyed with not being able to find out anything more about the conversation he overheard between Dumbledore and Potter. As if that was not enough, Granger still seemed to be resistant to his overtures and all initiatives for intimate contact came from him. Whenever he began to kiss and fondle her, she gave in without much resistance, but when he’d say he didn’t want to rush her, she would agreed and end the date a second later. More and more often, Draco felt the bitter taste of defeat and began to accept the fact that she would never tell him that she was ready to do more. Because Draco hated to lose, his frustrations were reflected in his interactions with the girl. Not only did they quarrel even more than before, but their arguments were almost as fierce as they had been a few months ago.

Now, they walked the familiar route on the far end of the grounds, where, even after the final examinations, no other students could be seen. At some point in their argument, Hermione and Draco stood by the rock where they once had a picnic.

“I don’t want you to speak about my parents in this manner!” said the girl, irritated.

“It's not my fault that Muggles are like that. I'm just stating a fact.”

"I thought you changed and don’t think about Muggles like you used to? Have you not been honest with me?"

Draco cursed silently. He kept forgetting the tales he told Granger about how he had changed. He hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to talk himself out of the situation.

"I didn’t mean that I like Muggles, only that I understand that a muggleborn can be just as good a wizard as a pureblood." It was not a perfect answer, but at least it did not completely deteriorate her impression of him.

Hermione wasn’t delighted with what he said. She knew he wasn’t rid of all his prejudices, but the way he spoke about Muggles hurt her. She decided that she must do everything in her power to get him to change his views on Muggles. It was her new mission.

“I wonder if you would have such opinions about Muggles if you actually met one. You will have contact with my parents and they deserve respect from you.”

“I promise you that I won’t let them know what I really think about them, but you can’t expect me to change my opinion.”

“If you can’t change it, then maybe this relationship shouldn’t exist at all.”

At this point, Draco was afraid that he had said too much. The fact that he hated Muggles didn’t mean that he could afford to break up with Granger. His life depended on this relationship.

“I didn’t say that.”

“But I did. You must realize that my parents will be the grandparents of our child and I can’t risk you defaming them in front of the baby,” she explained.

“Okay, I promise I'll try not to say or do anything that would be disrespectful to your parents. Are you happy?” Draco didn’t receive an answer, because two people suddenly came out from the other side of the boulder.

“Hermione, we were looking for you everywhere,” said Ron.

“Weasley, Potter, don’t you have your girlfriends to bother? Why do you have to ruin my date??” said Draco. He knew how much they were opposed his relationship with Granger. He saw the look of fury on Weasley’s face and congratulated himself. Seeing how angry he and Potter were because of not being able to do anything about his relationship with Granger filled him with indescribable joy. He came to the conclusion that he would provoke them each time they met by displaying the fact that he was Hermione’s boyfriend. He was surprised that he hadn’t come up with the idea earlier, especially when he realized how exultant it made him feel to torment them that way.

“What kind of date is that when you fight all the time?” noted Harry.

“Are you tracking us all the time that you would know what we do?” asked Malfoy. “Sometimes we can be very nice to each other, if you know what I mean,” he said and demonstrated his favorite smirk, which was closer to a malicious smile. Mentally, he conceded a point to himself, because judging by Potter and Weasley’s faces, the suggestion that he and Granger were doing more than just talking angered the Gryffindors even more.

“Never mind. Granger, we probably won’t meet before going on holiday, but we should have plenty of time to ourselves later, so I'll say goodbye now.” Hermione nodded at him. Then he looked at Potter and Weasley, smiled at them derisively and leaned over to kiss Hermione goodbye. Afterwards, he walked toward the castle without looking back.

“What did he mean that you would have plenty of time to yourselves?” Harry asked curiously.

“Dumbledore decided that Malfoy will spend the holidays at my parents' house,” she explained.

“What?” her friends said at the same time, amazed.

“Where else would he spend the holidays? He betrayed Voldemort!” she answered.

“I would not be so sure,” said Harry doubtfully.

“How can you let him spend the holidays in your home? Just a moment ago, he was making fun of your parents. How can you be with him?!” Ron was irritated. “I finally broke up with Lavender today and now we can be together.”

“Ron, I didn’t promise that I would break up with Malfoy if you leave her. I don’t know why you broke up with her, but if you did so only for me to end my relationship with him, you better apologize to Lavender and go back to her.”

“Hermione, how can you do this to me?! I did not break up with her because of that! I realized some time ago that you and I should be together,” Ron explained with obvious resentment.

“Is that why you haven’t been on speaking terms with me for so long, because you thought that we would make a good couple?” she asked, laughing bitterly.

“You don’t understand!” Ron yelled angrily, and he began to walk back towards the castle.

“Hermione, I think you should think about it again. I don’t know what Malfoy is scheming, but something is going on. Also, Ron cares about you,” spoke Harry, when Ron was already far away.

“Harry, you knew how I felt towards Ron, but everything has changed now. I want to still be friends, but I don’t want him as a boyfriend anymore. He lost his opportunity, and Malfoy is really trying. I know it's not perfect, but I decided to give it a chance and I ask that you and Ron do the same,” Hermione responded.

Harry still wasn’t convinced that Malfoy had pure intentions, but he feared that he might risk his friendship once again if he persisted, so he decided to say no more about it. However, he didn’t want to give up and concluded that they would convince Hermione to change her decision once they gained evidence against Malfoy.

I'm looking for a new beta for this story. Write to me if you want to be the one. I won’t post another chapter without beta reading.