I love you, brother! (The seasons)

Chapter 17

Late Spring. Hogwarts Students' Prom, 1998.

"Oh, that's it! What a beautiful photo! Miss Lestrange and Mr. Malfoy together at the graduation ball! Tomorrow's fresh Daily Prophet will be a bomb!", said a blonde green-eyed witch excited while taking a photo of the two young wizards.

"Rita Skeeter?!", said Hermione looking at her. It was the first time Hermione saw Mrs. Skeeter, but she recognized her. The girl always wondered from where in their house in Prague everyday she could find a fresh Daily Prophet. She read many articles signed by Rita Skeeter and once she read an article about her with a photo attached. Hermione couldn't forget her glance by which she understood the witch was a little too cunning and maybe crazy. However almost all her articles made problems to their protagoninsts.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Lestrange! Of course I'm here, how can I miss such an important event in the wizarding world?! The well-known Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry gives today our magical society another new generation of well-read young wizards...", she got closer to Hermione and whispered at her ear with a contemptuous look:"But how can you understand this, you haven't studied at Hogwarts!".

Her words hurted Hermione very much, as the girl really wanted to study at Hogwarts with her fellows, but Bellatrix said she couldn't. Hermione imagined for a moment this fact following her the whole life and a small tear fell from her eyes. Then Hermione recovered and said to the witch:

"And what's so shocking with me and Draco being together at the prom?!".

Rita Skeeter was staring at her with her eyes large opened.

"Oh, nothing! If you see nothing, I see a great bomb for the Daily Prophet, you can read it tomorrow, I think on the first page!", she said.

Hermione couldn't understand her and was confusingly looking at her, then at Draco.

"Now, excuse me, I have to take some more photos!", said Mrs. Skeeter with a cunning smile and then left.

Some minutes later Draco and Hermione were outside. They got out to take a breath. Hermione felt her head spinning after reciving so many shocking and unclear information.

"What was she tallking about, Draco?! I can't understand what does she see in our behaviour!", said Hermione confused.

"I don't know, I also can't understand, it's so strange! I have a hunch they know something what we don't know!", answered Draco.

"Who 'they'?!".

"All of them, Rita Skeeter, professor Snape(remember his strange words about us), the person who disconnected us the last years...".

"My parents...", said Hermione.

"Your parents?! You think they know something?".

"They are so strange... my father has secrets he's not ready to tell me, Bellatrix kept me home not allowing me to go to Hogwarts all those years...I don't know what to think...".

Draco put his hands on Hermione's shoulders and she suddenly clung to his chest. He was a little confused, but feeling her so close and smelling her vanilla flavour he felt so happy and...inlove, specifically inlove.

"Just don't leave me alone in this big, cruel world! Please! I spent all my life hitherto almost alone in a 'cage'...", she said.

Draco embraced her with his arms:"I'll never leave you, I'll never let you go! We'll discover all the secrets together, soon!".