(ABANDONED FOR NOW) Late Nights on the Astronomy Tower (Draco x Hermione)

IV. Broken Promises

October, 1994.

It was announced that on the night of the halloween feast, names would be drawn out of the Goblet of Fire. One champion per school. Hermione hadn't heard of any other Hogwarts students dropping their name in but she assumed that a few had. Everyone wanted to bring glory to their house. Viktor Krum was still all Ron ever talked about when the Durmstrang boys were out of earshot. He practically leapt out of his seat when Krum smiled at Hermione while they ate dinner one night.

"Did you see that? Did you–was he smiling at us?"

Ginny smirked. "I think he was looking at her." She pointed at Hermione.

The blood rushed to her face. "What? What–do–you–mean?"

Ron looked crushed.

"He was smiling at you, Hermione. He's been staring at you nonstop ever since you fainted in the corridor. He's being far too obvious. I'm surprised you haven't noticed."

Parvati, who was sitting to the right of Hermione giggled. She turned to her left and noticed Harry's amused grin.

"Ouch–Mione!"

She had kicked his leg under the table.

"Stop acting like you agree with her." She glanced at Ginny across the table. "Viktor Krum was not smiling at me." She said it as though it were the most preposterous idea she had heard in her life. It might have been.

Ron looked as though he would surely explode in the next few moments. His face was red and he was eyeing the food on his plate and toying with it with his fork. He wore a scowl which did not go unnoticed by Hermione. He looked angry. She opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong but before the first syllable left her lips, he had stood and began his walk toward the doors. She was taken aback. What did he have to be angry about? Hermione was the one having to endure this absurd conversation.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked.

Ginny smiled and shook her head. "Clueless!"

Hermione looked back down at her food. Surely Ginny was wrong–about all of it. No boy had ever liked her, she was sure of it. She had had crushes but they were all meaningless because the person would never like her back. She had accepted that dating was not in her immediate future. Especially not Viktor Krum who was at least three years older in age, or Ron who was her best friend. Ginny had gone too far this time. She didn't want to date Ron and she was positive that he didn't either. This kind of rumor could ruin the best friendship she had. What was Ginny thinking?

After a few minutes, she turned to Harry, hoping the object of their last conversation was forgotten. "I forgot to tell you after I fainted, Harry," she said, "I spoke to Malfoy again and I think he's actually up to something."

She explained how Malfoy had been sneaking off to some part of Hogwarts after curfew when she was pretending to look for her cat. She had completely forgotten to bring it up after her birthday and just remembered.

"Where could he be going?" Harry asked.

"That's what I was going to find out. I want to follow him."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "That's risky. If he sees you–"

"What? You think he'd curse me? I don't think he has the guts for that."

"It's Malfoy, Hermione."

"So you think I shouldnt figure out where he's going just because he'll use a spell on me? What happened to 'he's a future death eater. He'll kill us all!'?"

"Ron said that. I agreed with you that day."

"So, what's the problem?"

"I just don't think it's safe–I don't think he's safe."