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Falling into Destiny	By : Demonic_Host Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 11026 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with the Harry Potter franchise, nor do I make any money from this piece of work.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Falling into Destiny
Chapter Seven

The next few days went by fairly normally. There were people anxiously waiting for the end classes and you couldn't say that you blamed them. Even you were eagerly waiting for the winter holiday. You might have been staying at Hogwarts again to make sure that you didn't get distracted by the very important exams coming up, but at the very least the castle would be calmed down. Of course, you were trying to ignore the very real possibility that Umbridge would be the wet blanket to your peaceful days. Then again even the High Inquisitor wasn't allowed into the Common rooms without real cause. And that was assuming she could find a slytherin to give her the passwords. Though with the Inquisitor Squad running amuk…

Your eyes shifted over to Draco who was at one of the tables across the way. He was chatting with his friends as he leaned back in the chair, looking particularly smug with himself. It was interesting to see him looking pleased with himself considering that every time you and he met up, you ended up provoking him into anger. Usually it was on purpose for your part in the last year because it gave you a safe distraction. It also had the effect of helping you keep him safe from yourself because he had the habit of coming across you when you were at your worst. What was so horrible about it was that despite the nasty way he went about it, Draco was still helping you. That alone made you feel worse about using him as a distraction without actually letting him have a fair chance.

But that feeling of guilt changed when Zabini took a seat right beside you at the desk. Instantly a bundle of nerves started to form in your guts despite the fact that he did nothing. In fact, you could barely even feel any pressing desire from his energy as he started to pull out some parchment and ink. It was almost like he was back to normal, almost. For that you were grateful. Unfortunately as he'd chosen to sit by you and not with his normal group of friends, it garnered their attention. Draco just so happened to be a member of that so called group. Which was exactly why he sneered and whispered something that the group seemed to find so funny.

The sound of Pansy Parkinson's laugh made you realize just how ruined your reputation was going to be. There was something sickening about the look of triumph on her face as she stared at you. It didn't take a genius to realize that whatever Draco had said had started Parkinson on what promised to be a nasty rumor spreading mill.

"Don't let it bother you," Blaise said in a quiet voice, not even looking up from the parchment he was working on.

"That's easier said than done," you replied with all honesty.

"It's just words."

"In our world, your reputation is half of your credentials. She's about to drag my reputation through the bog and back," telling him this left you feeling rather strange that the man you had accidentally enthralled was becoming more of a confidant than anyone else.

Zabini said nothing but he did raise his eyes to stare up at where Parkinson was. She made a rather vulgar motion that even you caught out of the corner of your eyes. You shifted your jaw as the tension built up. The human part of you kind of wanted to maim her a little bit, and the other side was not helping one bit. You could imagine the absolute ruin you could make of her reputation if only you put a little bit of effort in it. You could leave her broken and abused for the world to tear apart and revel in her agony. The thought that it actually might make you feel good was concerning. Without saying another word you stood up and slid the rest of your stuff back into your satchel.

If you had to see her face for much longer, see Draco's smug looking expression as though he was congratulating himself on his good work, you might have hexed the both of them. You slipped out of the common room and quickly put a charm on yourself so that you'd blend into the walls. It made sure that when Blaise came out a minute later that he couldn't see you. In fact, after trying to see which way you went down the dungeon hallway and failing, he headed back into the common room. At the very least that would stop some of the extra-nasty ones from being told right away.

You let the charm go, feeling the cool rush of magic as it broke apart, with a sadden looked. Hurt raced through your veins as you pondered over the way that Draco had subtly ruined what remained of your time in Hogwarts. It might have been an exaggeration but right now the wound was still fresh. Just when you thought you'd learned all the ways that Draco could hurt and disappoint you, he did things to make you think that he wasn't so bad. It had seemed that he had protected you from Snape a few nights ago and for all his bluster he had helped you to avoid going down the road with no return not once but twice.

Now though, with the thoughts of what people were going to say about you because of whatever comment he had made...that felt like coincidence. Or he'd been winding up for a big fall. Either way you knew that it hurt the most because of those kindnesses that you might have just been imagining. So you did what you always did in this situation, you threw yourself behind your homework. The library was the best place for that even though your first choice had been your common room. Which was probably why you were such a great student despite a lack of interest in a majority of the subjects. Life kind of had a way of taking the fun out of subjects when the future was a terrifying thing to imagine.

As you turned around the corner towards the restricted section, you bumped into someone. Instantly you went on the defensive as you tried to see who it was. Thankfully it wasn't anyone that could have plagued you right now. Hermione bent down to pick up a few of the scattered books that she had with her. From the looks of it they were all on defensive spells. As you bent down to help her you saw that she was shaking a little bit.

"Worried about your OWLs coming up?" You asked with an ironic sort of grin.

In reality, everyone probably was but in the small windows of time that you had seen Hermione to get to know her she was one to worry more than most. In this you couldn't blame her. Umbridge (she didn't deserve to be called professor) wasn't exactly the best defense of the dark arts teacher or so you had heard. You had dropped D.A a few years ago when you realized that there was no way you could keep up with doing all the spells. Which was quite sad as you would have liked to have been a curse breaker. The idea of traveling the world and coming across the ancient magics you read about had appealed to you for a long time. But you were realistic and it was not something you could keep up with if you wanted to have a clean soul when you died.

"No," odd answer all things considering. Especially as she practically jumped when you handed her back one of the galleons that must have slipped out of her pocket. "I mean...Yes. I've put a lot of studying in for all the classes but with Um--I mean with Professor Umbridge's lessons I don't get any practice in."

She was hiding something. The way her eyes kept moving told you that much. You looked at her as you tried to figure out just what it was that she was hiding. Whatever it was, it had to do with something she was clenching. One of the titles that you had caught happened to be a book on practical applications for charms for the defense against attackers. It was directly against

"Are you practicing outside of classes miss Granger?" you asked, trying to hide the smile as she looked at you with alarm.

"That would be against the rules," she said in a hushed whisper, looking from place to place.

You couldn't blame her. After all, Umbridge had spies everywhere. Not only did she have the inquisitor squad working for her but you were pretty sure that some of the paintings were too. The ones that were more loyal to the ministry than to the school. Then there were the students who wanted to get on her good side. Or even the ones who didn't want to get on her bad side which could help save their family from the ministry's accusations.

"Why do we first make thieves and then punish them?" You tossed back at her. She looked at you slightly confused at first but you shrugged and casually told her, "It's a paraphrase from an old book. What I meant was--"

"I know what you mean," Hermione cut you off but looked abashed when she realized that she had done that. "I just can't believe that you'd want to try and go against Professor Umbridge."

"This is my last year," you told her honestly. "I couldn't give a flying hippogriff at this point. I have more to fear from my future husband than her."

"It's not just her, it's the whole ministry backing her," Hermione continued to whisper.

"You'll probably think I'm mad but...I can't find it within myself to care."

She seemed almost pleased by that. Curious considering how much she had liked to have order maintained. It was hard to believe that this was the same girl who had taken up so many classes that there wouldn't have even been time to consider extra practice outside of classes. You still weren't quite sure how she managed it though you did have your suspicions.

"If you want help, I can probably help you. She may have banned groups from meeting, but she said nothing about two students deciding to study together."

"I've got that covered, thanks."

Ah, that's what had her so nervous then. She was probably on her way to or from whatever practice that she had started. Which meant that she really was doing magic outside of classrooms.

"Well if you ever want the extra hand, just let me know. I'd be curious how good you guys have gotten."

She looked surprise as she shuffled her books from one arm to the other. You had made a guess when you'd said that, one that apparently paid off.

"I'm almost insulted that you didn't think I'd figure it out. I mean, I've talked to you over the last three years when we're both in the library...and we're both here a lot. Besides that, I'm in Slytherin and even I know how inseparable you three are. Besides, Harry has been the talk of the...well, the whole world practically since he was born. The fact that he has violently disagreed with Umbridge in the past wasn't even a secret for five seconds," you tried to assuage some of her fears.

Hermione finished straightening her book as she looked around nervously. The fact that you were able to piece that together so quickly meant that others might be able to as well. That no doubt crossed her mind and it was one of the things that you couldn't quite help her with. Instead you looked back down at her books.

The flow of magic took it out of you but no more than any ordinary spell. You disguised the books she had with her to look like history tomes. Hermione might be one of the only witches you knew that might be able to pull off reading something from Binn's class once again. She looked at you and then smiled.

"I should have thought of that."

"OWLs on the brain," you said with a small smile. "I suggest spending some time on protective enchantments, not just defensive ones. Might not be the thing you need in the middle of the fight but if you use them right, you can avoid one altogether."

"Thanks, I'll do that," she started to move away. Hermione half turned back to you and handed you the galleon she'd dropped only moments ago. She pointed with her finger to the brim which looked to have a generic serial number on it. "When the number changes it'll be the date. Meet me on the seventh floor by the portrait of Barnabas after classes."

You nodded and folded the coin into your hand. It was going to be hard to keep this piece separate, though you were going to try.
- 6
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- 8
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Falling into Destiny