Our Second Chance (Dramione)

Chapter 32 The Right Decision

Draco watched Hermione over the next couple of months. From what he saw, he knew that his accusations were becoming true. She was starting to isolate herself, barely answering any questions in class like she used to, and eating alone. He barely ever saw her in the Great Hall anymore, but that was probably because the professors frowned upon her choice of clothing. He also talked to his friends more about the things that go on at Hogwarts. Draco eventually found out that Hermione never had any friends in the first place, so that part wasn't very different.

There were several other things he noticed had changed. Her face became gaunt, and her eyes were almost dull with absolutely no light or even an ounce of joy in them. It has come to his attention that she would barely eat at all, or speak to anyone. "Granger, I had a big breakfast, and I highly doubt I can finish it all. Want a waffle? I don't think we want the house elves to toss out all the leftover food", he asked as they were walking though the entrance hall.

"Who cares about house elves? They're suppose to be slaves. Maybe if they actually did their job better then they could enjoy that leftover food." Draco's mouth nearly hit the floor. 'What terrible creature have you become?', he thought to himself. She went from the creator of S.P.E.W. to hoping that those elves get the punishment they deserved. He soon discovered that she was staring at him. "What?", he asked in confusion.

"Well, let's see... Potions class is about to start and you're blocking the stairwell to the dungeons. Now get out of my way." She put a hand on his upper arm and pushed him out of the way, which caused him to stumble a bit because everyone knew that Hermione had quite a bit of strength.

"Umm... Granger, do you want to work on charms homework together?", he asked and hoped that she would agree, but as he watched her disappear in the crowd of sixth years heading to potions class, he realized that her answer was indeed no. What was happening to him? He was starting to get speechless around Hermione Granger. That's not suppose to happen. He knew that if his death eater father saw him today, he would be very disappointed. In this case, he didn't have that. His father was part of the Order of the Phoenix, and believed that Muggleborns were equal to Purebloods. Maybe that was the whole reason he was acting the way he was. Because his death eater self was taught how it is to be on the good side for once. Maybe that wasn't so bad after all. Unfortunately, the one person he'd like to save the world with was the one about to destroy it.

   ***

She was there again, in the room where many things were lost, including herself. This time it was a bird. She carefully placed it on the floor of the tall black cabinet, and said the incantation over three times. "Harmonia Nectere Passus. Harmonia Nectere Passus. Harmonia Nectere Passus."

She opened the door and saw the empty space that she expected. It was almost as if she could hear the chirping from the cabinet in Borgin and Burke's. Or maybe it was just the fact that she had gone completely mad like the voices that rang through her head. She repeated the process a second time with confidence to bring the bird back within the castle. A smiled appeared on her face as she thought that the cabinet was finally fixed, but the second the cabinet door opened her smile disappeared. The bird laid lifeless against the cabinet wood. Instead of repairing it like she thought, she killed an innocent creature instead. Hermione couldn't help but let tears stream down her face as she saw what she had done.

Draco had witnessed the whole thing, and he went straight to his friends to tell them the whole situation. "You've actually seen this happen before? Everything that's going on right now... its already happened before?", Pansy asked as she paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. She was already studying for the exams that were coming up, so she was already stressed. This routine of theirs was starting to occur rather often. Draco would talk about the things that he recognized, Pansy would try to find a solution while Blaise was already confused from the minute Draco started acting weird. They were turning into the golden trio.