Our Second Chance (Dramione)

Chapter 11 Christmas Tears

  "So you're telling me that the dark lord created all these horcruxes to live forever, and you, Potter and Weasel spent ten months in the forest while trying to search and destroy them?", said Draco after hearing Hermione's story.

  "Precisely."

  "So why didn't we win?", he asked as if something this big was something that simple.

  "Because we didn't get to destroy them all. Harry and I never found out what the last horcrux was, so we never got the chance to destroy it. After all those years I helped those boys survive by going to the library and figuring everything out, and this is the one time that I can't solve this by myself. Treasure what you have Malfoy, cause we can lose the things we take for granted in less then a second."

  "I already lost it", he said with pain in his eyes. Hermione decided not to push the conversation any further, but the pain still remained.

                                       ***

  The tree seemed to glow extra bright on Christmas Eve. It wasn't even magic that made that happen, it just happened. Hermione sat in front of the sofa as her back rested against it while she read the stories in Tales of Beetle the Bard. She seemed to be reading the same page over and over again as memories of the horcrux hunt flashed through her head. Back then she didn't care about the Deathly Hallows like Grindelwald did. She honestly couldn't care less if they were in her possession, but now she wanted the cloak to hide, the wand to keep her friends alive, and she wanted to stone more than anything. However she would cringe at the title 'Master of Death'.

  "Are you gonna stay up just to watch a tree?" She jumped slightly at his voice. His tall frame leaned up against the doorway as his arms crossed over his chest and he had a smirk on his face.

  "Actually I was gaining intelligence. Something you might wanna try. Honestly, don't you read?" He immediately burst out laughing. "Why do I even bother?", she said closing the book and setting it beside her. "For someone who hates Harry Potter, you two are quite similar." She had a huge point. They were both the only children in their family who had to deal with something bigger than themselves.

  "Just remember I was right behind you in grades." He paused for a moment before speaking again. "Look Granger", he said using the nickname he gave her. "I read to study for O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. Anything else is pointless." Draco pulled a box out of his pocket and handed it to her while she raised an eyebrow at him as if the box contained something deadly. "Merry Christmas." When she still didn't move from her gaze, he spoke again. "Oh come on, Granger. I'm not purely evil."

  "Yes, but you are a pure blood who thinks muggle-borns shouldn't walk this world. This could be a bloody bomb for all I know", she said as she motioned toward the box. It was about the size of her palm, wrapped in green wrapping paper with silver ribbon. Sometimes his Slytherin pride got way to out of hand.

  "A what?"

  "Never mind." Sometimes it never crossed her mind that purebloods were completely clueless about almost everything in the Muggle world. However, she would like to see Draco's reaction if she was to show him some of the Muggle objects. Such as a telly and a microwave. He's probably go mad as he'd watch the numbers slowly drop down to zero, and the thought of it happening made her want to laugh right then and there.

  "Why on earth would I try to kill you? I made the Unbreakable Vow. If you die then I die." Hermione finally started to unwrap the box. A ring was placed in the middle of the box, and Hermione's earlier thoughts were correct. His Slytherin pride was reaching an unhealthy level as she looked at the ring. The Slytherin crest was carved into the metal. "Now you're officially one of us."