DRAGON'S HEARTSTRINGS || dramione | harry potter

Chapter Twenty-Three

Hermione stared at Draco's body, lying limp on the floor. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't breathing. Hermione's hand began trembling and her new wand fell to the ground with a clatter. She got to her knees next of him, her mind going blank. The ring on her finger started shaking, turning into a stone-cold piece of metal on her skin.

Crookshanks came out of nowhere to sniff at Draco's body, meowing and giving his mom judgy looks.

She didn't know what came over her, but she also knew she needed to confirm her theory.

I'm right, I know I'm right, she thought.

But five minutes later, Draco still wasn't breathing.

She put a shaky hand on his chest, and gasped upon feeling a very weak heartbeat. His empty expression soon turned pained, his features into a grimace. Hermione flinched away when he grabbed at his chest as if trying to keep his heart from exploding, and she watched him in awe as he slowly sat up, looking around. He found her face a moment later, peering down at her without saying a word for a while.

"Dying hurts like shit," he gritted out finally.

Hermione watched his face carefully, searching for signs of anger, disgust or annoyance, but she found none of that. It was almost as if he was amused, proud of her. She regarded him as if witnessing a miracle. She had just killed him and here he was, sitting in front of her, alive and well, not a hair out of place, not a wrinkle in his robes.

"Honestly, I was expecting you to figure it out sooner, Granger," he said, a corner of his lips twitching. "Not the smartest way to check, though."

Hermione swallowed. She refused to say anything, only staring at him, still expecting for him to lash out on her at any moment.

"How long have you known?" he asked her directly, and she was forced to speak up.

"Since last night," she admitted. "Since you told me the ring wouldn't stop me from leaving any longer."

Draco's eyes glinted devilishly. He seemed enthralled by her. "And that's when you decided to kill me?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I wasn't certain then, but at night, I started thinking—"

"Ah, yes, because what better thing to do at night then to think," he grinned.

Hermione didn't let that disturb her, she continued, "—and I figured there were so many signs that I just missed. And I needed to check my theory."

"Your theory being...?"

"You're immortal."

Draco kept on watching her, that possessive and intense fire back in his gaze, urging her to explain further.

"There were so many signs, really, I don't understand how I haven't realized sooner myself..."

"What signs?"

"I—what?"

"You said there were signs, Granger. I'm asking what signs. I want to know exactly how you saw right through me."

Hermione pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes, hiding a half-smile. "You know, you weren't half as secretive as you thought you were being."

He cocked his eyebrow almost flirtatiously. Hermione gathered that getting killed made him an awfully lot more handsome. "Maybe I wanted you to find out."

Hermione mimicked his expression. "Then I succeeded."

"Tell me," he asked.

"Well, firstly, you told me yourself that You-Know-Who wanted you to know how to make a Horcrux, and that this is how you found out about his Horcruxes. When I first told you about You-Know-Who's Horcruxes, and told you they're most likely jewelry, you looked down at my ring. The same thing happened when I told you how we destroyed the first two Horcruxes."