The Malfoy Diaries (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

s i x t e e n 💛

"You did what? You shared your chocolate frogs with Malfoy? Are my ears deceiving me?" Hermione asked her friend with an incredulous expression, the following morning. 

"Hey, good old fashioned bribery, Hermione. I didn't think that it would work on him but, what do you know? He says that he's not going to keep me out of the Slytherin common rooms anymore, which could work in our favour," Aria said. 

Hermione observed her friend with curiosity, which led Aria to detailing the entire situation with her. She revealed everything about Malfoy's journal and the fact that she had a discussion with Blaise about it and even more surprisingly still, the fact that Blaise Zabini had actually helped her. 

"So, what are you suggesting here? That you're going to continue to sneak peaks at Malfoy's secret diary? This just gets even more interesting," Hermione said, as  her brain began to work at a million miles per  hour. 

"It gets more interesting still. He mentioned me in his diary," Aria said. 

"Oh, don't go getting delusional, Aria," Hermione replied with irritation evident in her voice. 

"Not at all. Listen. Maybe there's a chance that I could get through to him," Aria said. 

Hermione raised an eyebrow at that, as she ran her hands through the brown curls of her hair in her nervousness. 

"I highly doubt that," she said, "But by all means, Honey, be my guest." 

A few moments after she had said that, Hermione left the common room with a stack of books in her hands. 

Aria followed after her, not wanting to be left alone to dwell on her thoughts. 

"Hey losers!" an energetic voice called out to the two girls then and they glanced up the stairs to see that the one and only Theodore Nott was rushing down towards them. 

"Nott," Hermione said in greeting. "When did you get back here?" she asked him. 

"Recently. For some stupid reason my parents believe that I'll be safer here than I would be back home. So, I'm here," he said. "I suppose it's not all doom and gloom!" he said, with some excitement, "I can irritate the hell out of you two." 

Aria's eyes narrowed at him in response to that. How many Slytherins were going to try to get on their nerves? They had barely been back at Hogwarts castle two months and yet they had already managed to cause considerable chaos. 

 "What are you two up to, by the way?" Theo asked them, as his eyes flickered between the two girls with genuine interest. 

"We're going to smuggle some mead. Heaven knows I need it," Hermione said nonchalantly, as she walked on past him leaving him dumbfounded. 

Once they were out of earshot, Aria spoke again. 

"We're not actually going to go and get some mead, are we?" Aria asked. 

"Don't look so hopeful. We can't right now," Hermione replied with a serious expression, as she continued to walk on through the Hogwarts hallway and out into the main courtyard. She wandered her way over to a nearby tree and sat down at it.

Aria's eyes glanced up towards the red, amber and golden leaves of the tree. It looked a little bit like fire, she considered. That was one of the reasons why autumn had always been one of Aria's favourite seasons. It was magnificently beautiful, warm and even though Aria knew how dark times had got, it brought her some comfort, too.  Aria soon spotted an emerald green apple in the tree and climbed up to grab it. 

"Careful, Honey," Hermione hissed, as she glanced towards her friend with concern in her gaze. 

"Always am," Aria replied easily with a smile in her voice, as she grabbed the apple and slid down the trunk of tree onto the safety of the green grass once again. 

"Hermione, Aria. I would like to speak with you both," sounded the voice of one Professor Minerva McGonagall, as she strolled towards the two girls with a serious expression upon her face. 

Hermione quickly stood up from where she had been sitting and smiled towards McGonagall pleasantly. 

"Of course, professor," she said, side-eyeing Aria all the while the two of them followed McGonagall into her office. 

McGonagall gestured to the chairs in front of her desk and the two girls soon sat down in front of her. 

"I'm going to be honest with you two ladies, I am very pleased with how well you have settled in since returning to Hogwarts. Of course-" McGonagall lowered her voice now, as she continued to speak in a hushed tone, "-this year is different than any other. How are we getting on with the Horcrux situation?" she asked. 

Hermione then informed her that they had destroyed a few of them, but they still had a long way to go, before their task would be complete. 

"Good. I'm glad. We must do all that we can, Miss Granger, Miss Honey. It's getting worse out there," McGonagall's jaw twitched slightly in her concern. 

Both girls could understand Minerva's fears well enough, which was exactly why they were going to do all that they could within their power to help dispel the worries that she had. 

"Tell me honestly, how have the two of you been getting along with Malfoy? It has come to my attention that he will be attending our autumn dance," Minerva said. 

"Yes. With me," Aria spoke up then, prompting Minerva to gaze at her with an inquisitive expression. 

"Well, Miss Honey, you must do all that you can to form some sort of bond with the boy. Dumbledore, for whatever reason, always believed that there was some good in him. We are counting on you to find this," she said. 

Aria gave a subtle incline of her head in agreement with that. 

"Understood, ma'am," she said. 

"Now, I best be getting back to my paper work. I shall see you two later on," McGonagall told them with a pleasant smile. 

Aria and Hermione bid her farewell and then promptly left the new headteacher's office. It seemed that Professor McGonagall had a lot to be getting on with, but Hermione knew that was understandable enough given the situation.