Jewel in the Darkness

Part 3
The hospital Wing...

"We all do."
"Potter!" Draco choked out. "What do you want?"
"That isn't the question, Malfoy. What do you want?" Harry's face twisted as if he was fighting an internal battle.
"What do you mean?"
"What do you want with Hermione?" Draco blanched even whiter than he already was.
"You're mad, Potter." He spat. Harry looked determined.
"Look, Malfoy, I'm not stupid, and I'm not biased like her other friends..." Harry said, narrowing his eyes. "I've seen you two together, the little looks, the way you look so uncomfortable with each other, so I'm here to protect her." Draco laughed.
"From what? Draco 'the sex-mad' Malfoy?" Draco? Is your brain still functioning? You're speaking to Oh-So-Famous-Potter! He asked himself.
Harry seemed on the verge of smiling but stopped himself. "Maybe...but what do you want with her?" Harry sat down on a chair. "She's not a PureBlood, she's not blonde, she hasn't got pointy Malfoy features and she isn't a popular socialite. I mean, don't you have requirements or something?"
"Oh, yeah, honestly, Potter...even I didn't know you were that stupid..." Draco said, inwardly thinking, He's right, Draco, he's really right... "And anyway, I'm not going out with her."
Harry crossed his arms and glared at Draco. "I'm just going to sit here till you tell me."
"What, you're going to manage without your little Fan-Club-...I spoke too soon, here they come." Draco smiled maliciously as Ron and Hermione walked in.
"Harry, what are you doing?" Ron asked, urgently. "Are you all right, what about the match?"
"It's off, Malfoy isn't exactly on top of the world."
"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Potter." Draco settled back onto the pillow. "Where's Pomfrey when you need her? Why are you all clustered around my bed?"
Ron glared at him. "We're here about Harry, Malfoy. Don't flatter yourself."
"You've seen him, haven't you, now take Scarface and go." Draco seemed impatient. He looked at Hermione out of the corner of his eye.
"Ron, you and Herm leave, Malfoy and I need to have a little-...chat..." Ron looked aghast. Harry glanced at him quickly.
He stalked off without a word. Hermione looked back at Draco and then Harry, turned on her heel and hurried out.
"Okay, Malfoy, this started off wrong...let's put it this way. I know you like Hermione and that she maybe likes you." He misinterpreted the look on Draco's face for impatience and continued on quickly. "You don't have to tell me why. When I came in, you were saying something about idiotic things..." Harry's internal conflict seemed to have been solved.
Draco bit his lip. I'll tell Potter everything and then put a Memory Charm on him...he'll never know...
"Yeah, I was thinking that I was stupid for liking her." Draco didn't say Hermione's name and looked away.
Harry tried to keep a straight face, but his worry shone through. "Oh."
"Yeah...look, Potter, I really, really like her...and that's the truth."
"Why should I believe you, Malfoy? How do I know you're not using her? Hermione's very naive." Draco sighed impatiently.
"If I was using her, why would I even tell you?" Harry considered for a second and then nodded dubiously. "And anyway, what would I use her for?"
"What about your parents and Voldemort?"
Draco bit his lip. "Potter, cool it on the names, okay?" It was completely forbidden to even think the Dark Lord's name in his Manor. "They'll murder me...no, worse...worse than kill me. Come to think of it, I might even be tossed to the dementors."
Harry seemed shocked. "Your parents would-...actually do that?"
He's never going to remember it...you can drop the act, Draco... "My father would..." Draco smiled. "Hey, no loss to you, huh, Potter?"
Harry looked confused and then smiled timidly.
"You hate me, don't you, Potter?" Draco asked, still smiling queerly.
Harry faltered. "No, Malfoy...I don't really...I just, well, I just really dislike you." Draco seemed satisfied. "So you really like Hermione?"
"Yeah. Does she really like me?"
Harry got up. "I don't know, Malfoy." He shook his head. "Hurt her and I'll do worse than the Dementors."
"Ooh, is ickle Harry being the big bwudder?" Draco laughed.
"Well, somebody's got to do it."
"Hey, Potter, I'd like to say I'm sorry for this, but..." Draco said as Harry looked bewildered. He drew out his wand. "Obliviate!"
To Draco's horror Harry threw himself on the floor. Damn those Quidditch reflexes!
"Is that the only reason why you said those things Malfoy, because you were going to wipe my memory?" Harry seemed hurt.
"Yeah, Potter, it was. Do you think I can trust you at all, ScarFace?" Draco snarled as he hurled himself of of bed.
"Expelliarmus!" Draco's wand suddenly flew out of his fingers and he let out a hiss of rage.
Harry was holding the wands in his right hand. Draco suddenly lunged at him and caught him below the waist.
"Oof..." Harry gasped, as Draco pushed him to the floor. He tried to pull the wands out of Harry's fingers but Harry was too quick.
Harry drew up his right hand and punched Draco in the face as hard as he could. The two wands left thin red marks on his cheek. Draco tightened his grip on Harry's wrist and drove his knee into Harry's stomach.
"Dammit."
"Ow."
"Crap, Malfoy, get off, you're too heavy!"
"Give me my fu-..." Draco stopped suddenly and got up. Harry, bewildered, followed suit. Draco brushed off his robes and winced. "Hello P-Professor McGonagall."
Oh, shit... Harry thought and glanced at Draco. Their eyes met in a moment of mutual sympathy and then they suddenly looked away.
Professor McGonagall's face had two angry red patches on her cheeks and her eyes glinted bloody murder.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy." Her voice was oddly strained and formal. She swallowed and suddenly her rage broke out. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?" She demanded.
"THIS IS A HOSPITAL WING! YOU'RE SEVENTH YEARS, WHAT KIND OF EXAMPLE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE SETTING? BRAWLING LIKE A COUPLE OF MUGGLE DRUNKARDS!" She regained slight control over herself as the ceiling stopped shaking. "Detention, both of you. Transfiguration room. After school tomorrow." She turned and stalked away.
"We're in for it now..." Harry whispered.
"Bloody hell." Draco hissed snatching his wand back. "This is all your fault, Potter, if you had just given me my fucking wand back decently..."
Harry bristled. "Shut up, Malfoy, it's your fault as well as mine. You should have never said those things if you didn't want me to know."
"Easy for you to say, isn't it, Potter? You've got all these sappy friends who listen to you." Draco shook his head bitterly. "I don't."
~*~*~*
The Transfiguration room...

Professor McGongall walked into the room with her face set in stone. With a sinking heart, Harry saw Professor Dumbledore enter behind her. His eyes were confused behind his half-moon spectacles.
Professor McGonagall folded her hands and pursed her lips.
"Harry, Draco, Professor McGonagall has been telling me some very disturbing things." Harry felt a little jolt of surprise when Dumbledore called Malfoy by his first name and not his title.
"Fighting, Albus, would have killed each other if Malfoy hadn't seen me."
"May I enquire why you were fighting." Harry and Draco both looked down. "I see. It's your choice to keep it to yourselves. I would just like to know whether you intend to do this again?"
Harry cleared his throat. "No, Professor, we're sorry." Draco sent Harry a look that clearly said 'Speak for yourself'.
"Our little problem has been, um, cleared up..." Draco said, his eyes glinting.
"Good. The door to my office is always open. As Seventh Years, I expected you to behave a little more responsibly." Albus looked at each of them piercingly.
"We don't usually give detention to Seventh Years but I am afraid in this case we'll make an exception. I am sure you can deal with it from here, Minerva." He nodded. "Please don't make me have to talk with you again."
He swished out of the room as McGonagall started to speak. "Right, you're going to clean out the Quidditch hoops...without Magic."
Draco groaned wholeheartedly. This just wasn't his day.
~*~*~
The Quidditch Pitch...

Harry balanced a pail of water precariously on his FireBolt Extra. He started to scrub the grimy hoop hard. It was still quite hot and he was sweating profusely.
He looked around for Draco but couldn't find him. "The bastard's gone!" He said to himself.
"Guess again, Potter!" Harry looked up just in time to see a bucketful of dirty brown water cascade down on him. Draco grinned gleefully.
"I'll get you for that, Malfoy!" Harry yelled. He had meant it to come out as a threat but it sounded like a good-natured rebuff.
"I'll believe it when I see it, Potter!" Draco shouted, whizzing past him.
Harry held the pail in his hands and started to chase Draco. He sloshed the water at him but only got his back. "Ha, got you there, Malfoy!"
Draco just laughed, dove down and picked up another bucket of water. Harry moved back as he whooshed up.
"Scared, Potter?" He asked, as Harry skeetered backwards.
"Not on your life, Malfoy!" Harry suddenly zoomed forwards and grabbed the front end of Draco's broom.
In a split-second he pushed it upwards slightly. The bucket Draco was holding fell on him and drenched his hair and face completely.
"Hey, no fair, that water's freezing!" He said, shivering.
"That was what you planned to do to me!" Harry yelled back. Draco picked up a pail half-full with water and threw it at Harry with all his might.
Harry saw it and avoided it easily. "Oh shit..."
The pail had flown past Harry and was aiming for the windows of the team dressing rooms.
Draco and Harry both concentrated on the pail and flew as fast as they could. "McGonagall is gonna kill us."
Harry pushed the FireBolt Extra to it's fullest extent. "It's going too fast!" He yelled at Draco, who was behind him.
Harry outstretched his hand...it was just a few inches behind the handle. Harry and Draco both knew that he wouldn't make it...
"IMPEDIMENTA!" Draco shouted. The pail suddenly slowed down and Harry clutched it easily. Draco breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked at the frozen worried look on Harry's face and burst out laughing. A second later, Harry, holding onto the pail for dear life started to laugh as well.
"Thanks, M-..." Harry stopped and considered a moment. "Thanks, Draco. That wasn't so bad"
Draco stopped laughing immediately. His face looked confused. He chewed his lip for a second. For Hermione, Draco...
"You weren't so bad yourself, Harry..." Draco said, a little stiffly. They looked at the expressions on each others faces and then burst into helpless laughter.
At a window in Gryffindor tower, Colin Creevey put his Binoculars down, decided that the stress was getting to him and went to bed.
~*~*~
Outside the Gryffindor Tower Entrance

Hermione was about to climb into the portrait hole when a voice stopped her dead.
"Hermione, I need to talk to you." Harry and Ron turned.
"Malfoy." Ron said, with distaste. "How did you know our common room's over here?" Draco's face clouded over with smugness. "Wouldn't you like to know, Weasley?"
"Hey, stop it!" Harry suddenly stepped in front of them. "I have had enough of this. Draco..." Ron's mouth opened in astonishment. "His name is Ron, and Ron, you'll call Draco by his first name."
Ron looked aghast. "But-..what..." He stopped and glared at Draco, who merely shrugged.
"Fine with me, Hermione, I really need to talk to you." Hermione nodded and followed Draco away from the portrait hole.
"I dunno, Harry...there she goes, talking to the enemy again." Harry laughed. "And why do I have to call Malfoy, Draco?"
"It's enough that we have to deal with Voldemort, Ron. Remember what Dumbledore said, we have to stick together..." Said Harry, thoughtfully. "Besides, he's not so bad."

"Hermione, I'm sorry for what happened- what I did..." Draco looked earnestly at her.
"It's all right Draco, and I'm sorry for being afraid. You got me thinking and you were right. I was afraid, but not any more." She smiled. "What did you do to Harry, enchant him?"
"I honestly don't know...I realised we have a lot in common in the way we are." Draco reached out slowly and took Hermione's hand in his. "The holidays start soon...I'll be going...home, if that's what mine is."
"I'm sorry, Draco." Hermione said, for no particular reason.
"What do Harry and Ron call you for short?"
"Herm, Hermie...it's a stupid name, Hermione." She shook her head.
"I think it's beautiful..." Draco stopped and then smiled. "Do you have a middle name?"
"No, I don't. Just plain Hermione Granger. What about you?" Draco pursed his lips and winced.
"Draco Argentus Valwracen Malfoy."
"It's a long name...but it suits you." Hermione smiled as Draco's eye's twinkled.
"Instead of calling you what everyone else calls you, I'm going to call you...Mia."
"I'd like that...but what shall I call you Draco?"
"Draco. Nobody calls me that except my parents...and well, you say it differently." He looked at the celing. "The Yule Ball is after the Holidays..."
"Yeah, it is..."
"Um, are you still going out with Krum?" He asked, with elaborate casualness.
"No." Hermione sounded hopeful yet apprehensive.
"So, Mia, would you go to the Yule Ball with me?" Except for the depth in his eyes he could have been casually saying hello.
Hermione glanced at him for a second and then broke into a smile. She didn't answer but touched his pale cheek with her hand softly.
She drew him closer and kissed him softly and lingeringly.
Draco's pale countenance flushed slightly. "Um, I can take that as a yes, right?"
~*~*~
At Malfoy Manor...

Draco regarded the menacing face of Malfoy Manor with something akin to sentimentality. The wind-swept, dark Manor was anciently beautiful. It was more like a castle than a mere Manor. It had housed the Malfoy family for centuries and seemed to pulse with their very essence.
It was not always nice.
Draco muttered the Disarming enchantments on the frontal Arch carefully. To make a mistake would be, literally, fatal. He looked around and surveyed the large estate.
There was a large green snake spouting silver water right in the middle of the grounds. A huge, yawning cliff face fell to the water to the right. Draco shivered. How many people had been killed and tossed off that jagged cliff? Too many.
The Snake enclosure was behind the house. This was where Draco spent most of his time. Sitting and observing the slithering creatures. The large ornamental wrought silver archway at the front of the house was home to eighteen curses and eight LockSafe heavyduty Magical Locks.
He pulled on the polished silver bell quickly. It sounded clear and true, contrasting with it's murky surroundings.
Draco glanced at the inscription and shuddered. Dulce et Decorum est te emperatori more. It is just and righteous to die for your Master.
In this case, the Dark Lord. He admired the way that Harry spoke his name. It was a name of fear and hate, the closer you come, the farther you wish you are.
"Master Malfoy, welcome home."
"Darius, open the other entrance quickly!" He said to the ghost. "Is Lord Malfoy at his residence?" Draco was careful to speak ornately, for Darius was old and used to the old ways.
Besides, living at Malfoy Manor was like living in the old times. The ambience, the people and the ghosts lived in the past.
Till now. Suddenly the Manor had resumed activity, becoming a base for Death Eaters to come and apprise themselves of the latest news.
"No, Master Malfoy, his services were required elsewhere, he departed in haste. Lady Malfoy is resting in her study, she requests your presence." Darius said, opening the door that would only respond to his touch.
Those Ministry people are so shortsighted. They search what they think is the house, all the while not knowing that it's simply a cover. No Malfoy has ever lived in the Upper Wing. The real house is below ground. Draco brushed the blond hair out of his eyes impatiently. I have to tell them about Hermione...they'll find out from Crabbe and Goyle soon, anyway. The whole school will see me with her at the ball.
Draco knocked and quickly entered his mother's chambers. They were decorated in a dark magenta with splashes of the Malfoy silver and green. There was a large banner with the Malfoy insignia of a green Dragon breathing black fire on a silver background. Below was the Malfoy motto.
Fear is the only true way of control
"Mum? Are you in here?" Draco called, loudly. Narcissa Malfoy opened the curtains and walked out, smiling.
"Draco dearest!" She exclaimed, pecking him on the cheek. "How are you?"
"Mum, I need to talk to you." Draco glanced at his mother. I wonder why she even married the git.
"Anything, Draco, you can always turn to me." His mother's face was serious.
"Mum, I'm in love." He stopped. Here goes. "With Hermione Granger."
Her face flickered suddenly and her grey eyes turned to steel. Her mouth twisted into a snarl but she suddenly relaxed. "Isn't she that smart girl you were telling me about?" She asked, pleasantly. Draco shook his head. Must have been imagining it.
"Yeah..." Draco looked at his shoes. "She's not- not a Slytherin...and um, she's not a PureBlood..."
"I see. I don't know if your father will understand. He can be rather...difficult about these things." Narcissa smiled stiffly. "Are you sure about this, Draco?"
Draco looked up, silver fire blazing in his usually icy eyes. "Yes."
~*~*~
Lucius Malfoy's private study...

"You called me home, Narcissa. You know I have important work." Lucius voice sounded dull and bored.
"Yes, but I have news." Narcissa's face was hard and cold. "Draco told me that he loved the MudBlood."
"What?" Lucius face contorted in fury. "He actually said that? Did you deal with him?"
"Yes, and he's asked her to the Yule Ball. I want him to think of me as a friend, you understand. I need to stop his foolishness. The Dark Lord was right about them being in love." Even through his fury, Lucius noted the change in Narcissa's attitude.
"You suddenly care, Narcissa. I always thought you rather friendly with the MudBloods. Not so loyal to the Dark Lord." Narcissa's eyes narrowed.
"I only care for my son, Lucius, don't forget it. The Dark Lord has taken everything away from me, my parents, my brother...everything. All because of a MudBlood."
"What?" Lucius took the oppurtunity to delve into his wife's enigmatic past.
"I loved-...thought I loved a MudBlood once..." Her voice was far away. "And I paid the price. I lost everything dear to me. I will not bow to your Dark Lord and I will most certainly not see my son destroyed because of a MudBlood that will only abandon him after."
Lucius teetered between shock and disgust. His Narcissa loved a MudBlood.
He banished these thoughts from his head. Draco's error needed to be dealt with. How could he love the Granger girl? She was not correct for a Malfoy. She was not petite, blonde or wispy. She was not a PureBlood.
Lucius stalked to his son's chambers and knocked hard on the door. A second passed before Darius opened it. "Lord Malfoy, Master Draco is currently in his study."
Lucius gave the merest nod and pushed the study doors open. Draco looked up, startled.
"Father?" He put down his Quill and stuffed the parchment into the large drawer.
"Come with me, Draco. Now." Lucius twisted Draco's collar and pulled him up. "Move!" Draco knew better than to resist. He followed his father into the Lower Dungeons without a word.
The cold steel and heavy books filled with curses seemed almost gleeful at his arrival. Draco winced as he passed a portrait of his grandfather, laughing crazily.
Madness was rife in the Malfoy family. Genius, too.
The Cruciatus Curse was developed by one of his ancestors. Many pieces of Dark Magic belonged to the Malfoy family. Old and dangerous, it's power had only increased over the centuries.
Yet the Malfoy's guarded a well kept secret. A secret so deep and hidden that no-one other than Lucius and Draco Malfoy knew it. To even think it would be sacrilege. Those who whispered it had a nasty habit of disappearing.
The Malfoy family was descended from Rowena Ravenclaw. Their middle name, Valwracen, was just a jumble of RavenClaw. In the old times, it was believed that your name lent power to your words of enchantment, so to lose RavenClaw would be to lose power. Something no Malfoy would ever do.
His father stopped and regarded him. "So, Draco, you have decided to disgrace us, I see you are not a fit heir after all. You did not outgrow your weak mind and disloyalty."
Draco did not reply, but glared at his father rebelliously. "I love her and I don't care." He broke out.
"Hmm...perhaps you need a little reminder to be obedient?" Lucius Malfoy smiled cruelly.
Draco's hands trembled slightly but he did not back down.
Narcissa Malfoy sobbed silently as she heard her husband hurting her son. "I meant it for your own good, Draco. Please forgive me...I'm sorry." She whispered brokenly. "I should have known it would come to this..."
One thought above all tortured her mind...
He did not scream.
~*~*~

~*~*~


A/N Part 3: The Third part is HERE!
Put us on authorAlert to see when Part 4 is coming up...
Thankyou to everyone who reveiwed, you completely rock. Lady Swan, thanx for mailing us. We love e-mail so just drop us a line.
We *tried* to do humour in this one...I think we better stick to angst!! Just pretend that Draco and Harry are more witty or something...we decided that it would be more realistic for Draco to "bond" with Hermie's friends etc...and anyway, it's a known property of guys to stick together when challenged by authority...
Draco, descended from Ravenclaw?? Ahh...where is that going?? We hardly know ourselves. We decided to make Narcissa not a complete angel, like loads of fics do *inc. us in 'As the morning dawned* and not totally evil, either...she's just had a bad experience!
Sorry for not much Romance in this one...a little getting to know each other...but we *promise* more mush in the fourth bit...*@ least we had one kiss!*
The contest from the first and second fic still stands, we haven't had many entries on the significance of the "ring" yet...what else? Nothing...
Hope u liked...visit our archive or Slytherin's Hollow...
Do reveiw, it keeps our hope up.
Nothin' else to say except go read our other stuff!