Beautiful Darkness

by EssTheDreamer

***Chapter Eight***

Of Questions and Surprises

Hermione and Draco's training sessions had soon sped up, and before they knew it, June passed onto July, and July passed onto August. The summer months had passed by, and with each passing day, Hermione had more knowledge ingrained in her head than the average 5th-going-on-to-6th-year Hogwart's student, and her anxiety levels for the end of summer and the end of their tutoring sessions grew as well.

Near one of their final days, they had just finished making making the final few potions that she was required to know, as well as some handy (and dark) potions that she should know just in case, taken from the "secret" Malfoy family recipes.

Hermione labelled each vial by pressing the tip of her wand to each glass covering, while Draco stared at her, tapping his fingers on the counters in a rhythmic pattern.

"You know, Hermione, summer's almost over. You know what that means, right?"

Hermione nodded, and tapped the final vial, labelling it as Polyjuice Potion. "You said you'd go to one of my favorite muggle places at the end of summer, when our training sessions were over!"

"I did," he said slowly, as if he still couldn't believe that he'd done that. "But our sessions are not over till you've gotten a letter to Hogwarts."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course, Draco, but remember, after all of this, you've got to come with me!"

"I promised, didn't I? A Malfoy never breaks one of their promises," he said, with a cocky smirk.

"Of course, of course," she said, this time putting their potions books back into their spot on the shelves, leaving the Potion's room to go to the shelves and place the books away.

This is my last chance to tell her, while she's still in a good mood. I should tell her, thinks Draco, steeling up his courage to tell her. While Hermione was away, Draco used his nervous energy to put the vials of the new potions away.

When Hermione came back, the first thing she noticed was the nervous look on Draco's face. Brows furrowed, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I know why you've not gotten your Hogwart's letter!" Draco blurted, loud and quick, before turning away from Hermione's direction.

"What?" asked Hermione, not hearing his blurted words the first time. She had a slight idea that it was about her Hogwarts letter, but didn't think it was what he was worried about, as it wouldn't be something Draco would be worried about.

"I know why you've not gotten your Hogwart's letter," he said, this time, a little slower, more calm.

"Oh? And why was that?" asked Hermione, wondering why Draco was still so nervous.

Draco reached into his pocket, and pulled out a tiny little book. He then wordlessly enlarged the book, before flipping to a specific page, and passing it onto Hermione, all without a single word.

Hermione's quick eyes read over the pages, a frown growing on her mouth. After she finished reading, she turned to Draco.

"So, what you're tell me is that some old coot followed me around when I was young, and decided I was too powerful? Then he decides to let me stay in the muggle world, whilst my powers continue to grow?"

"Well, if you put it that way, uh, yeah, that's what happened."

"Huh," she said, squinting her eyes, going back to staring at the book. "I really didn't think that this would be the reason why. Maybe if they decided muggleborns were hazardous, or they could potentially reveal everything to the muggle world because of prior loyalties, but not this. If I really have enough power as Voldemort did, why not play nice and convert me to their views?"

Turning to Draco again, she asked, "When did you find this out?"

He smiled sheepishly, and said, "See, here's the funny thing. I found this out a couple months ago, you know, and I was going to show it to you earlier, but, uh, yeah, we just got so busy training, I thought it would be okay to, you know, wait a while."

Hermione raised her eyebrow at the stuttering Draco. For someone who kept his cool nearly all the time, it was unusual and entertaining at the same time to see him so nervous and worried.

"Oh, Draco, don't be nervous. I'm not … mad, really. Maybe a little pissed off, at Dumbledore, but, I'm this close to finally joining the wizarding world. What's an old man going to do to stop me? Obliviate me? You've taught me Occlumency, and I think I can handle that."

Draco frowned at Hermione's solid belief in the power of Occlumency, which he' taught to her in the middle of July, along with Legilimency. "Hermione, you never know when a spell can backfire on you, no matter how skilled you are at it. Occlumency is extremely hard to master. I've been taught since I was practically born, all purebloods are, and even then, I'm sure a skilled wizard could find a crack or two in my shields."

"Sure, but you know I'm better at everything than you," she joked, her eyes sparkling.

"If that's what you'd like to believe," said Draco, shrugging nonchalantly on the outside, though his eyes returned the joke.

Shaking her head slightly, she asked, "You never told me this, but how does Occlumency work? Do you keep your shield up slightly all the time, and just mega power it when you sense danger?"

"Pretty much that, at least for me. I've always got a slight shield on my mind, with simple memories to hide any incriminating ones. But that's beside the point. Summer's ending soon, and Hogwart's letters are soon going out to anyone remaining."

"So what's the plan?" asked Hermione. She knew Draco had some sort of a plan to meet his parent's and some of their friends, due to them having a slight pull in the Wizarding World, but he never went into too much detail, choosing to focus on the topics she had to learn.

Draco smirked, as if he could just see her reaction to his next words. "You've got to attend a ball."

"What?"

AN:

Hehehehehe, another teensy-weensy cliffie. Don't worry, lovely reader's, this is not much of a major cliffhanger, so you won't be fretting and sweating, just curious.

Now, the reason why Chapter 7 and this one, 8, is kind of late. When I sat down to write, I had originally planned to show you what Hermione saw, in her vision of sorts. But, when writing it, the snippets were very short, and they revealed too much of my future plans, some which I wasn't sure I was going to carry through anyway. So, I deleted all of that, and then came the writer's block. I basically wandered around IRL trying to think of an idea, and when I got one, which wasn't a chapter idea, but rather, adding onto the structure of my story. Then, while re-reading my summary for this story, I thought of a sentence which basically led to my writer's block disappearing, and here comes these chapters! I didn't know how I would go on describing the learning process without too much canon information, so I decided to do a tiny time skip in this chapter.

I think some of you may foresee everything that's coming, because I hinted heavily in Chapter 7, with some in Chapter 8. Also, in case any of you were wondering why Hermione's reaction to Dumbledore doing as such is not … angry, but rather, analytical, I tried to go with canon!Hermione, because I couldn't decide which way to go. canon!Hermione would probably analyze everything and come up with a bajillion questions for every action, which I put in. However, this Hermione, in this story with this backstory, also has a very strong ability to hold a grudge, and act her revenge out later, so this plot point won't be fading into the shadow's anytime soon!

*looks back at long AN* I should be the Queen of Long Author's Notes, lol. I'm sorry if my Author's Notes are terribly long, I just have a lot to say, haha! I would say you can disregard them, but I do put important information every now and then, and I also explain why I wrote something a specific way, so your questions may be answered here, so please, stick through, if you can.

Also, if you (amazing and lovely) people notice any errors or misspellings or just writing tips, or tips in general, PM or review! :D

Thanks for being such amazing readers and sticking through this long, and thanks to all those who review (they make not just my day, but my week!),

Ess

Reviews are warmth during a cold day, an umbrella to shield the rain, and a smile to chase away a frown! :D