Secrets

Chapter 18

I own nothing! J.K.Rowling owns everything!

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Draco gulped when the last Death-Eater left the room. He looked around for an escape exit, desperately wanting to get away from the torture he was sure to have. After finding no escape, he closed his eyes in anticipation. Hermione looked at him and sized him up, her eyes narrowed and her lips a thin line, before letting out a big sigh and rubbing her eyes.

"Why did you do that?" She asked.

"What?" Draco replied, in both surprise and confusion.

"Why did you choose that your first action as one of my Death-Eaters be challenging me?"

Draco opened and closed his mouth several times before sighing and looking her straight in the eye. "I don't know." Hermione's eyes filled with fury at the fact that Draco had no real reason to challenge her. But before she could do anything, Draco spoke again. "I guess I wanted, maybe even needed, to make sure that you were in this completely. That there wasn't a part of you that was going to back out and let the rest of us get run over by the Knight Bus."

"You wanted to make sure that I was in this completely?" Hermione asked in disbelief, before her eyes turned cold and hard. "Is the fact that this is all about my family not enough? What would you not do for your family, Malfoy? I mean, you became one of my father's Death-Eaters to protect your Mother! You became a Death-Eater knowing that if this didn't go the way my father wanted it to you'd be shunned from society and people would always look at you negatively. You knew that it could destroy your future, whether it be making it impossible to get a job, getting your arse thrown in Azkaban or receiving the Dementor's Kiss. I'd do anything for my family too! Just because they're dead doesn't mean that I love my parents any less and wouldn't do anything to avenge them!" Hermione was panting with anger and passion by the end of her short speech. Draco's uncertainty towards her had riled her up, she knew she could and would do this, she just hated that nobody could see her with any guts, that nobody could see that when she was determined to do something not even herself could make her back out. They all saw her as weak. And she hated that. "I'm not weak." She whispered to herself and looked down. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. "They're my family, I would never only take things halfway." She said a bit louder as she raised her eyes to meet his.

Draco looked at the woman before him, a frown on his face. But he wasn't frowning at her, no, he was frowning at himself, he was internally chastising himself. How ever would he gain her trust and help her if he was going to be challenging her and underestimating her? He walked towards her, his hand out as if he were to put it on her shoulder and comfort her, but he froze when she saw the glare in her eyes and returned his hand to his side.

"I'm sorry." Draco said looking down at his feet. "I shouldn't have been so stupid as to forget that you're doing this for family, because if I had stopped to think for a second I would have never challenged you as everyone knows that family is the most important thing to anyone in the world." He paused and scratched his head in thought. "I actually cannot think of anyone who did not think family was important."

"My father did not think his paternal family was important." Hermione replied, although Draco had not asked a question. They then fell silent for a minute before Hermione chuckled a bit. "And Potter's Uncle Vernon certainly did not think that Petunia's family was important given how they treated Potter whilst he was growing up."

"They treated him badly?" Draco asked curiously and shocked. He had always assumed that aside from everything to do with Voldemort, Harry's life had been pretty perfect.

"Yes. They thought he was a freak given his parents had magic, which would mean that he would most likely have magic. They thought of him as a burden and would badmouth him to their entire community, making him look like a criminal or horrible boy. His cousin also used him as a punching bag."

"Huh. That is not what I imagined." Draco said shaking his head.

"Well, that's what one gets when one's parents take on the Dark Lord." Hermione said. She turned and started heading out of the room. "You may go now Malfoy," She called as she walked, "But piss me off or challenge me in future and you may never leave this room."

"Thank you, My Lady." Draco bowed, despite knowing that she could not see it, but at this point he just didn't want to risk anything. He really wanted to leave the room alive and intact. Once she was out of sight, Draco released a breath he had been holding for a very long time and apparated back to Malfoy Manor.

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I updated something! Yay... I'm a horrible human being, I know, and I'm sorry. I'll try to update more regularly, I do want to finish the stories I have on here so that I can start writing other ones (like sequels and stuff). One thing I can almost certainly promise though is that I will never leave a story unfinished. I will always finish a story, because I hate it when the stories I really enjoy on Wattpad are unfinished and I don't want you to feel the same annoyance and disappointment I feel on occasion. I'll try and update this story within the next two weeks, but we all know how that probably won't happen.

Oh well....

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