The Hill of our stars | Dramione

Solace

Flashback Hogwarts fifth year

Draco Malfoy stared at the dark sky littered with small stars. They had always managed to calm his nerves whenever he was distressed.

Unknown to all, the slytherin prince had a secret place in the school grounds which was seldom visited by other students. It was under a tree surrounded by the other trees across the lake where he had always found comfort.

He would lay on a mat gazing up at the sky listening to the low rustle of the water due to the giant squids movements. He would sometimes go there with his homework too.

But today there was nothing that could console him, nor the peaceful silence nor the mild rustle of the water or the pleasant breeze.

He could feel his heart pounding rapidly in his chest, thoughts running wild and anxiety coursing  through his body like wild fire.

He tossed and turned around. He never thought he did say this but for once he thought maybe he did not want to be a Malfoy anymore.

He recalled how he had enjoyed a toast with his father last summer to the Dark Lord's return. His father had come home happy, although shaken but still joyous.

He had informed him and his mother of the return of the Dark Lord and how lucky they were to be granted his forgiveness.

It was like Christmas had come early for Draco.How delighted he was at the prospect of his return. He had dwelled in happiness at the thought of the nearing end of the boy who lived.

He was further thrilled to know that his foe had been almost expelled from Hogwarts and had a Ministry hearing. He had already got tons of ideas of how he would taunt him.

He remembered getting dressed properly taking care of littlest of details wanting to make a good first impression.

He took care that his shirt collar was properly tucked, his sleek immaculate black suit properly ironed , hair gelled to perfection to meet the Dark Lord.

But his first encounter didn't quite go as  he had imagined. The tremor that had passed through him when he first saw the pale snake like face with slits for nostrils and those gleaming red eyes screaming danger.

Fear like no other that he had experienced before coursed through his body. The dark lord had smiled menacingly at him and shook his hand.

" Ah Draco, you will be very useful to me". The dark lord has said. Not a single syllable came out of his mouth.He recalled wanting to run in the opposite direction. But his father was loyal to the Dark Lord and so he had to follow in his footsteps.

He had convinced himself that his return would bring in many benefits for himself and his family.He had glotted about the close relations his parents shared with the dark lord to Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy.

He obviously had enjoyed taunting that scar face Potter whenever Potter was mentioned in the Daily Prophet. Umbridge seemed to have been god sent to him who proved to be the icing on the cake. But soon he realised how actually vile she was as a person.

But on the  insistance of his father he had joined the Umbridge women and he had to admit, it did bring with itself a lot of advantages.

He could now deduct points from fellow students and he had by far misused his power many times. Oh how delusional he had been.

But behind all that his heart deep down suspected that this was all a bad news and things were about to get worse.

And today that suspicion was proven to be true he had been summoned by his mother on the pretext that she was really ill but in reality he had been called back home for the weekend to welcome his Aunt Bellatrix who had been in askaban for the last 15 years.

They had broken out of the askban obviously assisted by the Dark Lord. She had escaped with 9 more Death Eaters. She had hugged him and he had smiled at her but in all honesty he had never met a more wild, lunatic and dangerous women in his life.

Her eyes did not have any kind of warmth but  a maniacal gleam, which made Draco very uncomfortable.

The other 9 death eaters were equally disturbing. Azkaban had really affected them a lot and not in a good way. They seemed more dangerous and mean after coming out.

He could not believe that he was standing between murderers, lunatics, people who had tortured other people just six hours ago and that he was forced to mingle with everyone. He had been asked to attend meetings where people actually discussed more tourturing and killings.

At first he had felt so honoured to be invited for such meetings in the Christmas holidays but the things discussed in those meetings disturbed him a lot.

Even taunting Harry Potter and his loyal side kicks that mudblood and that freckled blood traitor was loosing fun. He really did not want to be there. He was so scared about what would happen next.

He did not want to meet the Dark lord or his aunt again but what choice did he have ? All of this was too much.

He tossed to his right again but something caught his eyes this time. It was someone coming his way. The rough outline was getting clearer every passing second, it seemed like it was a girl.

At last she stopped near a tree very close to his. Fortunately he was safe from her view. It was that Granger girl.

She was dressed in muggle clothes muttering wildly under her breath. He caught words like "distraction" ........"noise"....."loose concentration.....common room".

She got out her wand produced a small but excellent blue flame in a jar, opened her books and started reading.

Draco had never noticed her before so carefully. Even though he did not like it but he had to agree she was beautiful.

He gazed at her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, her soft pink lips pressed together, her warm brown eyes gently running over the text.

Her brown hair rested softly on her shoulders, her skin seemed so soft and actually gleamed brightly under the moon light. She kept turning pages of her books and Draco could hear the soft scratching of her quill across the  parchment.

A warm glow filled his body. He felt a sense of calm. He layed there watching her from afar without realising what he was doing.

Watching her working had surprisingly calmed him down. He had no idea how this was possible, he had always disliked the Granger girl for being with that scar face and always beating him at academics so why was merely watching here so soothing?

Maybe its not her but the surroundings thought Draco but nonetheless kept his eyes on her. He had been always taught how dangerous and disgusting mudbloods were but for the first time he did not find her disgusting.

Hermione Granger stood up after an hour or so from her spot after completing her work. She ran her eyes along the lines of her Transfiguration essay and a satisfied smile gazed her lips.

She looked around the calm setting around her. She smiled. She had just found herself a new place where she could work.

The common room always was too crowded and loud these day and to add to that were Fred and Georges demonstrations for their illegal products. she could never concentrate and the library these days was full too. This place was perfect for her. So from then on she would go to her secret place with work frequently when she found the common room to loud.

Unknown to her, cold grey blue eyes would stare at her from afar. Draco did not know how but just gazing at her from afar just watching her work could calm him down. It had become his favoraite hobby.

Sometimes even he would bring his work with him, he found out he could concentrate more.

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