The Invisible Wars

Chapter 19

Note: This Chapter is revised. I was not satisfied with the one I published before. So here is the new one for you to enjoy :) 

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It's as if appearing in his dreams was not enough punishment, does he also have to see her like this wide-awake? The world does not spare time for me. It does not rest for people like me. Draco thought. Hermione Granger stood in the middle of the room, her left arm bleeding with the word mudblood carved on it. She was looking straight at him, asking for his help, with tears running down her face. She's not real. He repeated over and over in his head and positioned himself upright pointing his wand directly to her. But even like this, he could not make himself do it. His hand felt heavy like it was an anchor sinking deeper and deeper to the bottom of the sea, and he could not breathe properly let alone utter the spell. If this is exactly like many of his dreams, the next thing she would do—and the ghoul started doing—is take a step forward. Draco's lips quiver, he closed his eyes.

"Ridikulus!"

The ghoul disappeared into thick black smoke and crawled back to the cabinet dresser it came from. Draco fell on his knees, he opened his eyes and fixed them to the floorboards. There was only the sound of his heartbeat.

Sensing somebody else's presence, he quickly stood up and turned to see Harry standing at the doorway, mouth gaping.

"Say what you want to say, Potter." He said, coldly.

Harry's face turned from shock to disbelief and then to confusion. "D-Does she know?"

Draco was surprised by the lack of animosity. He was supposed to lash out on him. Tell him he should be ashamed of himself, and that he has no right to have any sort of feelings for her.

"Does Hermione know?" Harry repeated when he did not answer.

"I don't think so." He breathed out.

"And you've been hiding it all along?"

"If you're in my shoes what would you do?"

A heavy silence fell on the two. A silence made of understanding that does not need to be verbalized.

"You're not—going to curse me or—hit me?" Draco finally asked.

"Do you want to get hit?" asked Harry, he stepped forward and helped him up. "Because that can be arranged."

Draco could not believe. When he was the only one who knows, it's easier to disregard it. But now, now that another breathing being knew, and Hermione's best friend on top of that, he was feeling mixed emotions

"Merlin, the world is going to flip out." Harry wondered aloud. He was thinking on behalf of Ron, the rest of the Weasleys, the entire Gryffindor house, their professors at Hogwarts, the ghost of Hogwarts houses, and the entire wizarding community. His mind was reacting to the knowledge like a piece of an object far away into the abyss, too far to be real and to be contemplated. But then it propelled back to him, and all he could manage to say was "Bloody hell."

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a tired sigh. "I'll be on my way tonight don't worry. I'll go back to Hogwarts and spend the rest of the holidays there. I'll keep away from her."

"What are you on about?" Harry furrowed his brows.

"You're not going to tell her?" Draco eyed him, confused.

"Your secret is not mine for me to tell."

"Right, anyway, I know the implications, Potter. So you have nothing to worry about."

"Again, I'm not worried." Harry said placidly. "And what implications do you mean?"

Draco threw him a look as if he just said something stupid. "I'm Draco Malfoy and she is Hermione Granger."