Under the Stars

| Chapter 6 |

Draco felt the anger slip out of his system as soon as he left the Potion's classroom. He had no reason to blow up on Hermione like that. She was just teasing him and he would admit it was nice for a change to see a smile on her face in his presence and not a scowl. He never wanted to be enemies with her and her friends, but he had to keep up appearances. He had planned to drop the bully part of him this year, but a sudden appearance of a man he thought was dead had changed everything.

Lord Voldemort appeared in his house some months ago, everything he touched on the property became dead and shrouded in suffering along with the family. Draco stayed in his room, reading books and taking notes on anything he came across. In the corners of parchment, when he got bored, he wrote short poems; but he felt like he wasn't that good. One day, though, Lord Voldemort called for him. With shaking knees and a hammering heart, he made his way down stairs and into the drawing room. The once rich brown wood was now dark and crimson. He knocked on the door, asking permission to enter his own drawing room! He heard the slithering voice of the man he thought was dead and entered. There, on one of his families most prized dinning chair seats, sat a cloaked man. Lord Voldemort asked him of something; a task which would forever scar him though he had no idea yet.

Draco sighed as he walked down a random corridor in the school. He thought about his task and how badly he needed to do this, his father wanted it of him. He suddenly heard something, a cranking sound coming from his left, and he paused. Looking up at what he thought was going to be a blank wall; he saw a large door appear. His pale eyebrows rose up in both shock and confusion. Then the cranking sound stopped and he walked carefully toward the door. Raising his hand, his fingertips touched the dark wood, so smooth beneath his fingertips. He grasped the cold metal door handle and pushed the large door open. The heavy smell of must clogged his nose as he stepped through the threshold. He closed the door quickly behind him and turned to look at the inside of the room.

The room was completely dark, and, so he dug his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at the room, "Lumos!" from the tip of his wand shot a light which illuminated everything in front of him. He admitted he was expecting some spiders or bats to appear, but not what he saw. The room was filled with pieces of furniture, some broken and others just seemed to be placed in here as storage. He glanced to the sides checking to make sure he completely alone; double checking, he said, "Homo Revelio!" but no one appeared.

He walked through some parts of the broken furniture and found that the room was a lot bigger than he could possibly imagine. He sighed, just some random room. He didn't stay long; he had a mermaid he needed to see.

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She hummed to herself as she floated on top of the water, her fingers running through it calmly, her tail moving in small motions like a stalled propeller. She could feel the vibrations in the water of running feet before she saw him, but she still refused to move. It was time that they confronted each other instead of playing this cat and mouse game. She smiled and closed her eyes to the night sky as she heard the footsteps get louder and heavier as they made their way across the wooden bridge to where she was. They came to a stop near her, the heavy panting loud in her ears. He was silent, though, his eyes on her. She wasn't recognizable in this form so she had no worries that he would find out about her human form. She decided she would be the first to speak.

"You're here at last," she spoke, opening her eyes. She righted her form so she stood in the water.

Draco Malfoy looked down at her, leaning against the wooden railing. His silver eyes were wide as they connected with her now watery blue-brown eyes. He wore his Slytherin robes still, his white blond hair ragged and the wind rushed through it like it was nothing, "You speak?"

"Of course I do," she smirked at him, "I am after all, half of your kind," Draco seemed gob smacked, "Fish got your tongue, young Malfoy heir?"

"You know my name?" Draco asked, seemingly shocked at everything that came out of her mouth. Hermione admitted she actually liked it that she could do this to him. There were too many instances where, in her human form, he got the best of her.

"I do," she said, nodding slightly, "Your family's name is well known in my kind's history, though it is not all good."

Draco chuckled darkly; "I'm not surprised," Hermione cracked a smile at him, "What's your name then?" Hermione's smile faded, she didn't think this far, "Come on, it's only fair I know yours since you know mine."

"Filia pulcherrima muliere mundi (Daughter of the most beautiful woman in the world)," she simply said. She would start to give clues as to her human form and maybe she could gain his trust in that form too. Besides her personal curiosity in him, she also needed to gain his trust to figure out he is a Death Eater, her maddening task from Harry.

"What?" Draco cocked his head to the side in confusion, like a snake.

She smiled up at him, "That is the meaning of my name in Latin."

"Sorry, I don't know Latin," Draco said sadly.

"Then I'll give you another name you may call me by," she said, "Thetis," she just randomly chose a watery name from the back of her head.

Draco chuckled, "You don't look like the mother of the invincible Achilles."

She giggled lightly, a musical noise reaching Draco's ears, "You know your Greek history I see."

"My mother taught me world mythology," Draco responded.

"It is no mythology, Draco," she said his name and Draco loved how it sounded on her lips; "It is history," Draco looked at her like she had lost her mind, "I'm here before you, isn't that enough proof?"

"More than enough," he simply responded and then asked, "How did you come to the Black Lake, if you don't mind me asking?"

"My parents left me here after they found out what I was," she said sadly, the lies falling through her teeth easily, "I've lived here my whole life, only able to walk on land during the day."

"Did you go to school here, then? Headmaster must know you well?" his curiosity of her was amazing.

Hermione shook her head, "I did not. I do not know mortal magic for I have my own," she raised her hand out of the water and speaking in Latin, "Surge aqua," and the dark water began to rise above, climbing toward Draco quickly like some rising Egyptian cobra.

He looked at it as if it would bite him and then he stretched out a hand to it, his fingertips touching the water just barely before it fell back into the Lake. He sighed, "You're amazing."

She giggled, "I don't think so, but thank you," she nodded to him, her cheeks flaring up slightly. She had never received such a compliment such as his from a person such as him.

"But you are," Draco said, "Even just the little I know about you, you are amazing," her cheeks flared up even more.

"Thank you, Draco," she looked up at him, her blue brown eyes connecting with his silver ones for the first time without anger spilling out between them. She found them addicting and kind and calm and so old, so terribly old. She moved slowly toward him, he leaning down toward her. Something pulled them a part quickly though, for Hermione swam away from him. Diving into the lake, she left Draco calling out to her at her sudden departure.

I shouldn't have done this, she thought, this was a mistake. He wasn't here, I'm dreaming. She repeated it, I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. She swam so deep into the Black Lake till she couldn't feel the heat of the sun reflection on the moon anymore and she was surrounded by darkness and she began to shiver. The cold seeped into her skin and she became so cold. She tried to think of anything but him. She failed though, and her thoughts of him began to warm her body up.