The Secret's In The Telling by Sakuri

chapter 27

"Is there something you want?" he ground out, when, surprisingly, she showed no sign of moving.

Apparently, she heard that as an invitation to dump the pile of books onto the table between them and make herself that bit more comfortable by depositing her school bag under her chair. "Look," she began, adopting a tone that might have been assertive, had Draco not been looking at her with absolute incredulity. "I've been looking into this… compulsion issue for you –"

"Excuse me?"

"There's actually quite a lot of information on the subject here in the library, you know," she said, for all the world as if they often had friendly little chats like this. "Of course, it sounds so much like the Imperius curse, so that seems the most logical topic to research. But then, I started thinking that – with the fact that you're a… well, you know – a variety of spells could affect you differently than they would normal wizards. So –"

"Granger?"

"Yes?"

"What the fuck are you doing?" His stress levels had never been so high. He gripped the table edge to hide the fact that his hands were shaking. If he wasn't mistaken, he saw her hesitate, and realised that his expression was probably a little crazed. Calming himself just slightly, he leaned across the table to hiss angrily, "Did Potter tell you to do this? I told him I didn't want anyone else –"

She had the audacity to roll her eyes. "You were the one who told Harry about it in front of me, so I already knew. And no, as a matter of fact, I'm doing this of my own volition. He'd probably throw just as big a tantrum as you are if he did know."

"I am not –" Draco stopped himself, realising how inane that particular argument would be. Gritting his teeth, he stared at her levelly. "Why would you help me?" he demanded ungraciously, scowling.

"I'm not doing it for you," she told him, in a tone that suggested that should be obvious. "This is for Harry. He hates having this kind of power over anyone." Personally, she thought he believed it made him like the Durseleys – which was quite untrue, she could have told him.

The Slytherin curled a scornful lip and refused to dignify her comment with a response.

"You're not the only one hurting lately," Hermione went on, averting her eyes all of a sudden to examine the titles of her books. "It seems like we've all had the rug swept out from beneath us this year…"

"Oh what would you know?" he snapped, feeling defensive. "You and Potter are just the same, always preaching about how your problems are worse –"

"Don't be so stupid!"

He looked up in surprise, unused to the whip-crack reprimand from the witch. She glared fiercely, spots of angry colour high on her cheeks.

"Harry would never say anything of the sort, and you know it. No matter that it'd probably be true if he did!"

He seethed. "Oh yes," he said very quietly, voice gone shockingly cold. "How couldn't I see it? Potter, with all his worshipping fans, his friends, that bloody oversized, interbred clan of Weasleys he calls a family, his money, his fucking reputation – oh yes! He's so much worse off than me!"

She stared at him for long moments, her lips pressed thin in a manner reminiscent of McGonagall. But eventually, she sighed and seemed to slump. "Alright… alright I'm sorry. I didn't mean that…"

"Yes you did," he muttered. Sighing, he rubbed his eyes and leaned back in the chair. That was perfectly fine, he told himself. He didn't want Granger's pity or understanding. It occurred to him that this ditch attempt to help him was probably on a par with her ridiculous campaign for House Elf rights. Good lord, could he sink any lower?