Breaking Hermione

The Forbidden Forest

Tom was careful to refrain from telling me anything. He had walked out of the main entrance of the School and into the darkness of the night without so much as a backward glance. I put two and two together and came to the bitter conclusion that the initiation ceremony had to have been happening from the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

Just the thought was enough to send chills down my spine.

I'd never considered the Forbidden Forest as an ideal ground for secret ceremonies, but the more I thought of it the more obvious it became. Typically teeming with many forms of dangerous beasts, access was strictly prohibited to students not accompanied by a teacher. Tom knew that of course, but that wasn't going to stop him, clearly.

It wasn't hard to guess who was getting initiated, either.

Me.

Maybe I was overthinking it, but there was no way this was good. I thought about the look in his eyes as he turned and asked me to follow him.

Dark. Fevered.

Excited?

He thought I didn't know what was happening, but I was one step ahead this time. Standing there alone in the Great Hall with nothing but my hammering heart to keep me company, I thought about Xavier Malfoy and his warning, and realised two things.

If Xavier Malfoy was here, why didn't Professor Pickerell count him in with all the rest of the students? There were ten of us, Tom and I being the only ones in Slytherin, so why was Xavier hiding from the staff and avoiding head count?

Secondly, Tom was breaking Hogwarts School regulations by being out in the Forbidden Forest at night. He was so confident I was going to come after him, that he thought his bases were covered - that there would be no one to report him to a member of staff.

I immediately began walking to the Headmasters office. I had absolutely no intention of speaking to Professor Pickerell at all about this, for all I knew she could damn well be in the Forest with Tom. The odds were high.

No one around me could be trusted... So who could I turn to?

I left the Great Hall quickly, not wanting to stay where Tom could come back and find me. I could already hear his accusatory tone in my head.

Why would you disobey me?

I was so tired of being panicked about Tom. When I got anxious about him, I would feel really insecure then defeated, and anxiety would eat me alive for the rest of the day until the following morning, where the horrific process would begin again. It was torment in its finest form.

"What the hell are you doing out here still? Are you insane?"

Xavier Malfoy rounded the corner of the corridor, almost running into me if I hadn't stepped back.

I blinked, coming to my senses quickly. He practically glowed beneath the dull candlelight illuminating the castle, and I thought for a split second of the tall and pale Draco Malfoy. Head to toe in a long, black travelling cloak, he looked like he was about to take a nightly stroll.

"So, you're part of the initiation too I take it?" I demanded.

"What?" Xavier's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't bullshit me." I was getting really stressed out, and I didn't want to be standing here wasting time either. "You're going out there to join them, aren't you? Why the hell would you even want to?"

"It's not about wanting to." He snarled. "Besides, I'm not the one you should be worried about right now." He told me seriously. "You're the one in danger. Not me."