A Heavenly Betrayal (Draco Malfoy Love Story)

Help!

She had trouble sleeping that night; mostly because she couldn’t get her brain to stop. It was continuously searching for answers, for the slightest clues by going over every little detail and analysing it excessively. But her questions remained unanswered and she eventually fell asleep. When she woke up the following morning, she was quite tired; a tiredness mingled with despair that she carried throughout the week. It was partly due to the fact that her last hopes of retrieving Malfoy’s secret had vanished, and partly because he had stopped talking to her. It was a foolish thing to be fussing about, since he never talked to her in public, but it still affected her, rather irrationally. He was back to acting cold and bitter, as though nothing had happened. Suddenly, everything they had shared seemed like a dream – she had a hard time convincing herself that it had indeed been real. The week was very long and draining; by Friday night, she didn’t have it in her to face him. Besides, she desperately needed some rest for the next day’s Quidditch match: so, she switched her Prefect’s patrol with Anthony Goldstein.

She woke up early Saturday morning, as prepared as she could be. She was heading to the Great Hall when Hermione caught up with her; she never lost an occasion to exchange information. 

"Hi Maria, anything new?" 

"Well, actually, yes… I guess you could say we now have an incredibly complex, but still existent, relationship." She momentarily frowned, thinking to herself ‘Somehow...’ "How’s the potion going?" 

"I’m still missing one ingredient… it’s kind of illegal." 

Maria laughed a bit and so did Hermione. But that was it; they went straight back to business. 

"Listen, Harry told me he overhead Snape talking to Malfoy before the holidays in an empty classroom." 

"And..?" Maria said wanting to hear more. 

"Harry says it sounded like Snape was offering to help him. He was really insisting, but Malfoy wasn’t convinced. What do you think?" 

"It doesn’t surprise me that Snape knows; I mean, Dumbledore knew too and Snape’s a Death Eater. And Malfoy was very clear on wanting to do it alone. He’s not going to give in easily, trust me," Maria said, her past week’s discouragement flooding her once again. 

"That might complicate things… And I don’t think Snape was offering to get him out of the deal. I think he wants him to get the job done." 

"Yeah, me too. But for some reason, I have faith in Malfoy," she spoke unexpectedly calmly. "He’s really not like the rest of his family. He’s definitely been hiding something." 

Hermione looked surprised to hear this. She frowned and bit her lip, like she always did when she was thinking. Maria was suddenly very uncomfortable, and eagerly changed the subject: 

"Any luck with the Half-Blood Prince?" 

Hermione’s expression instantly changed to desperate: 

"No… and it’s really bothering me! I know he – or she is no good, but Harry and Ron just won’t listen! The spells are… suspicious," the bushy haired witch ranted. 

"Maybe it’s Vol-" 

Hermione flinched; Maria was used to saying his name. Being raised as a muggle, she wasn’t brought up in constant fear. 

"You-Know-Who." 

"Him? A Half-Blood? Are you serious?" 

"You never know." 

"I’ll check, thanks." 

Hermione was about to leave when she remembered: 

"Oh and good luck."