Hermione stormed into the Gryffindor common room. She was running on autopilot as her surroundings faded into the background.
Malfoy broke the curse. She was finally herself again. But that still left the question; how did Malfoy break the curse?
According to the wizard who was previously afflicted by the dragon curse, there were only two ways to break it. The first way was to brew an extremely difficult potion that only contained the rarest of ingredients. And the second way was through true love. She and Hagrid both assumed that meant true love's kiss. What if that wasn't the case?
Hermione certainly did not have those kinds of feelings for Malfoy. She also knew for a fact that he didn't harbor any feelings for her. There had to be another explanation. What was she missing?
"Hermione?"
What was the connection?
"Hermione!"
Two pairs of arms wrapped around her, startling her out of her thoughts. "Wha-" she looked up to find both Harry and Ron. Her momentary confusion left her as newfound anger filled her veins. "Why you!" She slapped both of them as hard as she could. She felt satisfied when she saw them both wince. "How dare you leave me!"
"You left us!" Ron shouted in defense.
Hermione stomped her foot and puffed out her chest. "You could have at least looked for me!" She poked a finger to his chest.
"We did," said Harry. He looked around them. "Maybe we should take this somewhere else."
Hermione glanced at their surroundings and saw that they had drawn several pairs of eyes to them. "Fine."
Harry led them out of the common and down the corridor. They came upon a hidden room that they had found in a previous year while exploring with the Marauders map.
The Marauders map. With that, they could have easily found her. "Why didn't you use the Marauders map to find me," she gritted between her teeth.
"I wanted to but Harry wouldn't!"
Harry gave her an apologetic look. "I was going to then professor Dumbledore stopped me. It all worked out for the best."
Hermione sighed in defeat. Everything had worked out. But how did Dumbledore know that she was a dragon? Did Harry tell him? And if Dumbledore knew then why didn't he look for her? Unless he already knew where she was?
"Harry, were you the one to tell Dumbledore about me turning into a dragon?"
Harry shook his head. "Hagrid did. Why?"
Hermione shook her head. "I'm not sure, yet."
"Who cares. What I wanna know is how you broke the curse. What poor loser kissed you?"
Harry shot Ron a pointed look that told him to shut up. "He meant, who would willingly kiss a dragon? One who didn't know that the dragon was a person."
"Hagrid would," supplied Ron. "I bet Charlie would too."
Should she tell them? Yes. She needed to so she could tell them what she had discovered. "Malfoy."
"What!" Screamed Ron. His face was the same shade of red as his hair and his eyes were wide and buggy.
"Malfoy kissed you?" Harry asked in puzzled bewilderment.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I know it sounds ridiculous-"
"Bloody right you are!" Ron cut her off. "How could you let a weasel like him kiss you!"
Weasel? That's exactly what Malfoy called Ron. Then his other words hit her like a slap to the face.
"Let him? Let him!" She curled a fist and shook it in front of Ron. "I did not let Malfoy kiss me. He just-" Hermione cut herself off. Why had Malfoy kissed her? It made no sense. And was it really the kiss that had broken her curse?
She had an earlier thought come back to her. What if she and Hagrid had just assumed that the wizard meant true love's kiss. He only said that true love could break it. What if what Malfoy had felt toward Bookworm the dragon was the kind of love that a mother felt for her child. That was a kind of true love.
"Hermione?" Asked Harry with a wave of his hand.
Hermione blinked at him. "Excuse me." She walked away from them and headed toward the headmaster's office. Hopefully Dumbledore was there.
To her luck, he was. When Hermione knocked on his door, his muffled voice came from the other side. She opened the door to find Dumbledore sitting at his desk. "I was expecting you."
"Did you know what will happen?" Was her first question.
Dumbledore gave her a sympathetic smile. "I had my suspicions."
"Was the curse really broken by true love's kiss?"
"That is not a question I can answer." Dumbledore rubbed his beard with a wrinkled hand while the other one stayed hidden beneath the desk. "I do believe it is time for you to be off. You would not want to miss classes again. Especially when the answer you seek can be found there."
Hermione gritted her teeth knowing that he meant Malfoy. She turned to leave but paused. "Do you know what he has planned." It wasn't really a question.
Dumbledore nodded before saying solemnly, "I do."
. . . . .
Draco bent over with his hands on his knees. His wand was lying on the ground. The room was in a complete disarray.
After Granger had left, Draco found himself in a fit of rage. He slung spells left and right, almost destroying everything around him.
How could life be so cruel?
When he was younger, he had believed the teachings of his father. That purebloods were the only worthy wizards. He had also believed that all magic should be legal and that there needed to be a change in the system. His father had taught him that the change that they needed was Lord Voldemort.
Just the thought of the name made him sick to his stomach with fear. How could that be what wizards needed? How could a power hungry dark wizard be what the wizarding world needed?
Because it wasn't.
His time in Hogwarts had taught him that. It also taught him that halfbloods and even mudbloods could be just as powerful as purebloods. He also learned that people grow in power when led with a firm, gentle hand, not fear.
Draco also didn't like the tasks that the Dark Lord and his family asked of him. Headmaster Dumbledore had been nothing but kind to him, even if he was a little biased toward Gryffindors, specifically a certain group of Gryffindors.
Thinking of that particular group of Gryffindors caused him to scream out in agony. He had a strong disliking toward the arrogant idiots in that group. Okay, so he actually disliked everyone but one person. She was the one person who was brilliant enough to figure things out and also the one person who would take charge, most of the time. He had seen her allow others, specifically Potter, to lead her, and she was also hesitant on her feelings toward the Weasel.
He punched a fist onto the floor.
How could he have been stupid enough to allow himself to feel for a Gryffindor, especially when she hated his guts and was in love with someone else.
And now she knew he was a Death Eater. The second worst person who could have found out his plans did just that. He allowed himself to be tricked into allowing a defenseless creature around him. Turns out the creature wasn't so defenseless.
The door to his room opened. His heart skipped a beat for fear that it was Dumbledore behind that door.
Draco released his breath when Theo and Blaise walked in. His comrades, his friends. Or at least two of them. He would not let them fall for the mistakes he had made.
Theo and Blaise looked around in worry. "What happened here?" Asked Blaise.
"Did she tell you that you were terrible in bed?" Asked Theo without a hint of humor.
Draco looked at his friends with furrowed brows. "What?" Then it clicked that they must have seen him with Granger. "No. Whatever." He stormed past them. He decided to attend class like normal. If Dumbledore came for him, then that would be it.
Draco had just reached the corridor that led to his first class. Pacing in front of the door was none other than Granger. She looked up just then. "Malfoy!"
His first reaction was to run away. He forced his feet to stay planted in their spot. He knew this was coming, he had just expected Dumbledore. "Come to take me away, Granger?" His voice came out hostile.
She glared at him. "No. I'll leave that to Dumbledore."
His shoulders slumped. Of course she told Dumbledore. He was actually surprised to not see Potter or the Weasel with her. They were probably furious knowing that Granger had been cooped up with him for the past few days. And they were probably riding the high horse in knowing that they were right in assuming that he was a Death Eater.
"Where are your body guards?" Said Draco as a way of covering up his disappointment.
Granger shrugged her shoulders. A simple movement that could barely be seen beneath her robes. "I haven't told them." She hadn't told them? That was stupid though it did help to ease his soul a little bit. "Yet."
Draco narrowed a cold glare onto her. Not to his surprise, she didn't flinch. "And why is that?"
Granger looked up at him with eyes that were so similar to Bookworm's. He should have realized it was her from those eyes.
"I was furious with them when they threw a rage when I told them that you had broken the curse. I haven't told them what I had discovered, I'm much too angry with them right now."
Wait, curse? Granger had mentioned a curse before. "What do you mean by curse?"
She sighed. "It was dumb luck, really. I just happened to be walking by when a curse ricochet right to me. Apparently Hagrid had given a cursed wizard a potion brewed by Dumbledore. Instead of going into the locket, wham!" She smacked her hands together, making Draco jump.
"How do I know it was dumb luck and not a plan hatched by Dumbledore?"
"Why would-he had told Harry not to worry when he was looking for me. But how could Dumbledore have known that I would be walking by Hagrid at that precise time?"
He watched as Granger disappeared into her head, rattling out question after question. If everything had been planned, then Granger wasn't in the know. Draco sighed. That just meant that she had been duped just as much as he had. Though he would be held as a villain while she would be held as a hero.
"How could he have known that?" Granger asked him.
"I don't know."
Her look turned puzzled. Her voice softened when she spoke. "Is everything all right?"
"Why are you being nice to me? I'm a Death Eater. Quit feeling sorry for me."
"I'm being nice because you genuinely cared for Bookworm the dragon, otherwise you wouldn't have broken the curse. And why are you a Death Eater? You and your roommates didn't seem to want to live that kind of life."
He should have known she would have been observant. She had always been intuitive and that had not changed even when she was a dragon. "We don't have a choice in the matter."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
Draco didn't want to talk about this. He didn't want or need her pity. "What did you mean that I broke the curse?"
Hermione looked at him, quickly understanding that he wanted to change the topic. "The wizard had told Hagrid that the witch who cursed him had told him that the curse could be broken by true love. Hagrid and I automatically assumed that it meant true love's kiss but obviously that was not the case. It was the love you felt for Bookworm as a caregiver that allowed the curse to be broken."
Draco could hardly keep up with her long winded explanation. She tossed out the phrase true love a few times which was what his mind kept catching on. He'll admit that he liked Granger but did he love her? No.
He looked down at her and realized that she had stopped talking. "Right," he said though he had already forgotten what she had said.