Between the Fall

Chapter 2

Warning: Recreational drug use

Chapter 2

"It goes back, as a matter of fact, to extremely fundamental things. That there is always a curious tie, at some point – between the fall and the creation."

Knowing Kreacher and Dobby are trailing Malfoy becomes a double-edged sword.

Hermione takes exceptional care with each interaction. She speaks with him only in the library and looks over her shoulder constantly while together.

But on the other hand ...

Now she has an excuse. If Harry and Ron do find out, she'll say she's taking the place of Dobby and Kreacher – doing a better job than what house elf-slavery can accomplish. Trying to prove a point.

Harry started this mess anyway.

It's believable enough.

She waits for the right time to ask him about the Room of Requirement. No moment ever seems it.

Draco's in the library again that Friday night; tucked away in the back corner. It's peaceful – one of Hermione's favourite spots.

She sits beside him, pulling out her textbooks.

"Do Potter and Weasley know you're doing this?"

"They don't need to know every detail of my life."

Ron's too preoccupied sneaking into the nearest unsuspecting broom cupboard with Lavender. All Harry notices is how Ginny's quidditch robes fit. It's all so painfully obvious ... She's downright sick of it.

Hermione misses something Draco says.

"I'm sorry – what?"

"You look furious," he teases her. "Get a ninety-nine on an exam or something?"

It goes both ways in any friendship. For him to open up, she needs to also.

"It's nothing. Just ... Lavender's trying to figure out what to get Ron for his birthday ... I had to leave the dorms tonight; listening to it was making me ill."

Draco looks bored by this information, his commentary distracted and predictable.

"Weasley's an idiot."

He's not, though. He's charming and funny and cleverer than he knows.

"Sometimes," she mutters half-heartedly.

"Just because Brown stooped low enough to shag him –"

"They – I mean, what?" She tries sounding casual, but her heels are digging into the ground. "What makes you say that?"

He hesitates, shrugging.

"Pansy and Daphne were whispering about her ... Called her a disgrace – I don't know, I didn't care enough to listen."

"Oh."

She nods, let's the subject drop. What do Pansy and Daphne know anyway?

It's late Monday night when she brings the subject up. Not to Draco, but Harry and Ron.

They're sitting around the fire in the Gryffindor common room, Lavender retreating for bed after a particularly nauseating kiss to Ron's temple.

Hermione has the discrepancy of a mountain troll when she asks.

"Are you and Lavander sleeping together?"

If Ron were drinking something, it would have sprayed Harry in the face.