Rewritten || Scorpius x Hermione Time Travel AU

8 | The Not-So-Whole-Truth

"He's been missing the whole day."

Hermione stiffened, perfectly knowing who Harry was pertaining to, and shot a glance over the Slytherin table. It was already dinner, but Scorpius Malfoy was still nowhere to be found. Hermione found herself glancing at his empty seat in classrooms or the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, wondering what had happened to the battered and bruised boy she had seen last night.

"I'm sorry, who?" Ron, ever the oblivious prat, questioned while in the middle of shoving pieces of bread inside his mouth.

The brunette rolled her eyes as The-Boy-Who-Lived gave his best friend a slightly disgruntled look. "Malfoy," he hissed. "I haven't seen him since breakfast. He wasn't in his classes too."

"Well, someone's been keeping tabs," Hermione snapped. Harry gave her a dark glare but she didn't look away. "Look, Harry, maybe something just came up at home and he was needed. It's not as if he's... you know." She paused, the image of the Dark Mark, startlingly stark against his very pale forearm, conjuring in her mind. Hermione involuntarily shivered and frowned, this time finally looking away from Harry's green eyes.

"What? What 'you know'?" Ron asked, skidding closer to his best friends with an excited glint in his eyes. "What are we talking about?"

Hermione didn't understand why she couldn't just tell her best friends about what she saw last night. She suspected that it might have been attributed to his mangled form and Dumbledore's reassuring words that he'd tell them about everything soon. Well, not everything, as he so clearly didn't want to divulge a secret that wasn't his to tell. Still, she knew they would be getting answers and she didn't want to blabber immediately without Dumbledore's permission.

"Nothing, Ronald," she hastily replied. "Go back to eating."

She internally groaned when Ron narrowed his eyes, already sensing that something was wrong. He shifted his questioning blue eyes on Harry and frowned. Hermione tried to silently convey for Harry to shut up, but her best friend didn't really listen to her most of the time.

"I think Malfoy's a Death Eater," Harry murmured under his breath for only Hermione and Ron to hear.

"I think that is completely stupid," Hermione interjected.

"I think that's bloody possible!" Ron exclaimed with an indignant look on his face. "He's the son of a Death Eater. Daddy dearest would have wanted to pass on his legacy to his son, after all."

Hermione bristled at the disgusted look on their faces, wanting to shout at their faces that they didn't know anything. The unbidden image of Scorpius Malfoy fighting for his life resurfaced in her mind again, prompting her to shoot up from her seat without thinking.

Harry and Ron stared at her in disbelief. "Where are you going?" Harry grumbled.

The brunette shouldered her bag and shot them a glare. "To the library," she spat. "At least there, I'll surround myself with facts instead of ridiculous speculations."

"You know that's possible, Hermione," Harry protested. "You know... you know I'm right."

'Oh, Harry, you have absolutely no idea,' she thought, but Hermione merely rolled her eyes and stalked out of the Great Hall.

Hermione had every bit of intention of going to the library to clear her mind. Books, old books most especially, always calmed her down, so it was her go-to place when she needed to think. She also needed to finish a seven-feet long essay for her DADA class due next week and she was already running behind her schedule!