HP: The Unchosen One-(Malfoy SI)

Chapter 13

HARRY POTTER

"I am afraid that will not be possible, Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall's answer did little to alleviate his sour mood.

All of the students had gathered outside the castle to hand in their permission slips for the Hogsmeade trip, and the entire Third Year class was leaving for the village. All of them except him.

"But professor, I was hoping that you could sign the slip," Harry pleaded, but the Transfiguration Professor shook her head.

"The slip is to be signed by parents or guardians, Mr. Potter, and since I am neither, I cannot sign the slip for you," and he hated that she was such a stickler for rules.

Though, he knew that the battle was lost.

"But Professor, you know about my family. They are mugg..."

"These are the rules, Mr. Potter. Please, do not hold up the line," and he walked to the dejectedly as the rest of the students all handed in their slips, and he did not miss the snickering from Draco and his group as they walked past him.

Ron walked upto him, as Harry shook his head.

"So, she didn't agree?" they had expected this.

"No, she did not," Harry said, and it was a long shot.

"Bummer, mate! I will try to bring you as much as I can," Ron said, and Harry nodded, not wanting to ruin his friend's happiness.

"Have you talked to Hermione?" he asked Ron to apologize to her so that they could bury the hatchet because their little spat was becoming a bit too much. And as much as Harry did not wish to intervene in between them, he could stand this no more.

"Why do I have to apologize to her?" Ron asked, and Harry sighed.

"Because I am tired of you two fighting," Harry added and Ron finally nodded as his eyes finally landed on Hermione who was walking towards her.

"Hello Harry," she greeted warmly before her lips thinned as she looked towards Ron.

"Good morning," she still said stiffly, as Ron nodded.

"So, Professor McGonagall did not agree?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"She did not," he had also told her about his plans, and she nodded.

"I am sorry for this," she said.

"It's not your fault." It wasn't anyone's fault except his own and Voldemort's.

"You should go," and then he looked at Ron who made a face before he finally looked at Hermione.

"Hermione," he called out just as she had turned away from them.

"Yes," she asked, as Ron seemed to hesitate, so Harry kind of nudged him secretly as he opened his mouth.

"I am sorry," Ron voiced out, and Hermione raised a brow.

"It's ok," she said after a few seconds and turned away, much to Ron's surprise.

"Hey! Where are you going?" he asked as he called her out once more.

"We should go together," he suggested but Hermione shook his head.

"I am sorry, but I already made plans," and Harry was a bit surprised by her words but not more than Ron.

"Who did she make plans with! Everyone hates her guts!" while not aptly put, it was true that Hermione did have few friends in their House.

"Merlin's Beard!" Ron cursed as he pointed towards her once more.

"It's him again! That git!" Ron cursed, and Harry saw him as well. It was the Malfoy, the younger one.

Cassius he remembered his name rather easily. For it was on every boy's mouth for the whole day yesterday after how he had beaten the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.

And he saw Hermione laughing with him as they both walked towards the castle gates together.

"A Malfoy! She is going out with a damned Malfoy!" Ron cursed as he shook his head.

"And you made me apologize to her," Ron shook his head at him.

"She has betrayed us mate! The girls are right about her. She has been bewitched by his Gold and does not care about us anymore," Ron said, and Harry did not believe it, but she had been rather distant from them ever since the year began.

"Well, then, I am going back. You should go and enjoy yourself," Harry said as he turned away from Ron.

"Hey! Before you go, the Twins asked me to tell you to see them. They want something from you," Ron said, and Harry nodded.

"I will go and see if they are in the Common Room," and with that, he walked up the castle once more, dejected and angry, before he walked into the Common Room, where he approached the Twins.

"Ron told me that you wanted to see me," he began. Both Fred and George turned to face, and the two Twins looked at his dejected face.

"So, McGonagall refused to sign your slip," they asked, and he nodded.

"Well, then we have just the solution for you..."

0000

HERMIONE GRANGER

Hogsmeade was even better than she had imagined it to be. The shops, the history and the sights, it was all magical, with such rich history.

Cassius took her to all the famous stores. Zonko's had a massive line of students outside of it, and the Three Broomsticks was filled to the brim, but they still managed to get a pint of Butterbeer, and Hermione would later realize that she had drunk about half a dozen of them.

"You drank half a dozen pints of Butterbeer, and you still want to go to Honeyduke's," he asked with a laugh, and she huffed.

"Its for exploration purposes," she denied, not accepting the insinuation that she had a sweet tooth.

"As you say, my lady," he bowed, animated as they both walked towards the sweet shop. and much like Zonkos' and The Three Broomsticks, there was a massive hoard of students in the shop, and they both exchanged glances, rather tired of making their way through the crowds.

"We can come later," and she nodded as they walked out of the famous sweet shop, and began to wander through the market area.

There were many other shops for uniforms, snacks, supplies, and even the famous Madam Pudifoot's tea Shop, which was a rather famous spot for people who were dating one another.

"Is that Percy?" she realised as she recognized one of the boys sitting on a table.

"Yes, and he is with Clearwater," he said, and there was a devilish smirk on his face.

"I am going to have fun with this," he said as the couple in the shop turned towards them. Cassius waved to them with a devilish smile on his face.

She saw the Ravenclaw prefect wave back awkwardly as he pushed him forward.

"That is enough," she said, no longer able to tolerate the sweet smell of the shop anymore.

"I was not done," he complained, but yet he moved forward as they walked towards their final two destinations.

"That is the infamous Shrieking Shack," he said as he pointed towards the decrepit House in the distance with a fence around it. And the house was a small wooden cottage, a bit away from the town, with a fence around it.

"They say ghosts haunt it and that they scream every night," she remembered reading about it in Hogwarts a History.

"That is a lie," he cut in rather nonchalantly.

"What?" her head whipped towards him as he nodded.

"Yes, it's not haunted. At least not in the way people think it to be," and that was cryptic of him.

"How do you know that?"

"My mother told me,"he answered, and she realized that while she knew much about his father, she did not know much about his mother except for her name.

"She went to Hogwarts," she asked, and he nodded.

"Yes, she and her two sisters. They all went to the school together, each of them a year or two apart," and she frowned.

"Who were they?" she asked, and he hesitated for a second before he answered.

"You must have read about one of them," he said, looking into her eyes, but she had not made the connection.

"Bellatrix Lestrange, though at that time she was just Bellatrix Black," and perhaps it was an impulse, but she pulled her hand away from him, for she had indeed read about her.

And there it was, that name. Black and it took her a second to make the connection.

"Your mother's name is Narcissa Black, like Sirius Black," she asked nervously as his lips thinned.

"He was her cousin," and she could not believe that the mass murderer, one of Dark Lord's most infamous followers, was his uncle.

"They went to Hogwarts around the same time," he answered, and she did not know what to make of it.

"He was friends with Harry's father, James Potter," and she did not know that.

"What?" she asked in surprise, and he nodded.

"Yes, he ran out of the home when he was sixteen and lived at the Potters' family home for a year. He and Harry's father were the best of friends. He was the best man at their wedding, and they even named him Harry's Godfather," and she knew nothing of this.

And sadly, neither did Harry. No one had ever mentioned this to him.

"Then when did he join the Dark Lord?" she asked, hoping to learn as much as she could so perhaps she could relay it to Harry.

"No one knows," he answered as he shrugged.

"Some even question if he ever did join him or not," and she frowned at that, not understanding what he meant by those words.

"What do you mean by that?" and Cassius shrugged as he looked into her eyes.

"I don't have the details yet, but I will soon," and for some reason, she did not press him on it as they continued to walk; their journey forward was done rather silently as they headed to Hog's Head.

The inn was rather shady, and for some reason, she did not feel like visiting it.

"Should we really go there?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Yes, there is someone I want to meet in there," and she frowned and yet still followed after him. as they entered the inn, it was empty except for an old bearded bartender cleaning glass and one single soul sitting there all alone.

Their robes were formal, red in color, much like the official Auror uniform.

"I have been searching for you for quite some time, cousin, Nymphadora," Cassius greeted, as the person in red robes turned to face them both and it was a girl with hair as red as her robe and a rather young and angry.

"How many times have I told you?" She had her wand whipped out, as did Cassius, as she pointed it to Cassius.

"Do not call me Nymphadora!" she thundered, as she glared at Cassius who was still smirking as she just looked at them both in surprise.

"The DMLE must be really falling low if they have made someone like you an Auror," he teased, and she was an Auror. She smirked at the taunt.

"Do you want me to show you?" she teased, and Cassius raised a brow.

"Do you want me to write to your mother," the older girl seemed to perk up at those words, and infront of her eyes, her hair changed in color, much to her amazement.

"You wouldn't dare," and Cassius shrugged.

"I would," and then they both pocketed their wands as the older girl turned towards her, as a smirk appeared on her face.

"Hi, I am Nymphadora Tonks. Please call me Tonks," she said and Hermione shook her hand, being polite.

"No. Call her Nymphadora," Cassius cut in as he sat down on a stool as the girl rolled her eyes.

"Will you please stop that?" her hair color changed once more at the groan, much to her surprise.

"Nope," he answered, and she did not know what was going on here.

"She is my cousin; her mother, Andromeda Black, was my mother's older sister," Cassius finally introduced her properly, and she became cautious at that name once more.

Black.

And it must have shown as the older girl looked at her.

"Though she now goes by Andromeda Tonks, she was kicked out of the family because she chose to marry my father," she added as she led Hermione to a seat.

"And what was wrong with that?"

"Well, his blood was not pure enough for those bastards," she scoffed as she slapped away Cassius's hand, which was reaching for her glass of beer.

"He was a muggle-born," she asked, and the Auror girl nodded.

"Yes, she ran away with him, and her family kicked her out. But for some odd reason, she never gave up on that damned naming sense," the Auror cursed.

"And named her Nymphador..." and before she could do anything, she had thrown the glass of beer at Cassius, drowning him in beer, much to her surprise.

"I warned you!" Cassius seemed surprised at that and took out his wand and pointed it at her.

"You do know it is a crime to assault an Auror, right?" she asked.

"I have a witness that you did it first," and then the girl turned towards her and asked.

"I can bribe her," and Hermione did not really know what was going on.

"You are talking about bribing infront of a Malfoy," and the girl clicked her tongue as she waved her wand, and all the liquid came out of his clothes and skin and went back to the glass.

"Here it is done..." and then Cassius finally turned towards her.

"You seem rather surprised," he said, and she nodded.

"Well, your existence is kind of an anomaly. Did you even tell her anything about me," the older girl asked, and he shook his head.

"I should have expected that," and then she turned towards her.

"I think you need a bit of an explanation...."

.

.

.

And nearly half an hour later, with a lot of Black family history lore dumped onto her, Hermione finally began to understand their world more.

"Ok, kid, I need to go. I have a patrol to do," the older girl said as she offered Hermione her hand.

"It was good to see you, Hermione Granger," Hermione shook her hand with much more ease and enthusiasm as she nodded.

"Likewise," she said, and then, with a final nod at Cassius, she walked out, leaving them alone in the decrepit bar.

"I never knew that the wizarding world was so complex," she voiced out as she realized all the intricacies that were mentioned in no book.

"The war was as destructive for the pureblood families as it was for muggle-borns and half-bloods," Cassius began, and it was the first time he was talking about it.

And it was something that she was learning for herself as well.

"Families were torn apart, fighting on opposite sides. Others were all killed for no damn no reason at all," and there was anger in his tone, much to her surprise.

"All because of those archaic beliefs of blood superiority," he scoffed as he sipped water and turned towards the innkeeper.

"Pack me two bowls of your porridge," he said, and she frowned as the innkeeper raised a brow but walked back to the kitchen nonetheless.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"It's not for me," and that was a cryptic answer, but her mind was reeling about something else.

She knew of Draco's beliefs and the beliefs of the rest of the Malfoys. And she had never brought it up infront of Cassius, perhaps not wanting to disturb their friendship, and as she thought about it, if he were like them, he would have relished the half a dozen opportunities she had given him to get her into trouble.

And yet he had not. He had spared her every time, going so far as to make even his brother apologize to her in the second year.

And so, she gathered the courage as she asked away.

"You don't believe in it?" she asked as she looked into his eyes.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"I know that your brother does. Your father does," she answered, and he sighed.

"I don't. I love them, for they are my family, but I am not like them, never have been," he answered with a scoff as the innkeeper brought him his food.

And he paid him as they both walked out of the shop and towards the Shrieking Shack once more.

"Why are we returning to that place?" she asked, and he pulled down the fence.

"I need to do something," she said. After that, she saw him run towards the House. Much to her surprise, he left the porridge there and later walked out.

"What was that?" she asked.

"For the ghosts?" he answered.

"But you said there were no ghosts? And even if there were ghosts, they cannot eat?" she asked, with a hint of feat, and he shrugged, not reassuring her in any way.

"These are not that kind of ghosts," and with that, they walked towards Honey Duke's for their final stop before they headed back to the castle, her own mind whirring as she tried to think about all that she had learned that day.

She had never really thought about the war like that, and as they were about to reach the castle gates, she looked at him, at his troubled face, and spoke up.

"I am thankful," and he turned towards her.

"What?" he asked, and she smiled.

"I said that I am thankful," she began, grabbing his hand and smiling at him.

"Thankful that you are not like them..." and he stilled for a second as his eyes widened, as he grabbed her hand a bit tighter, before he opened his mouth.

"Thank..." but before he could say anything else, suddenly a scream interrupted them.

"AHHHHH!" They both turned towards the castle gates and watched as a few dementors came together.

"Have they found Black!" she gasped, and it was Cassius who answered.

"NO. This is not Black," she said, and he ran before she could say anything else, realising that the scream was familiar to her.

"Harry..." she gasped as she saw that a person was indeed standing beside the place where the Dementors were gathering—a red haired person of middling height.

"Ron..." she realized and broke out into a stride behind him.

"Cassius! Wait!" she shouted, but the black-haired boy was far too ahead of her, and by then, half a dozen Dementors had surrounded Harry and Ron. Cassius ran towards them, she saw him take out his wand, and he pushed himself infront of the invisible place where Harry probably stood along with Ron, and shouted.

"Expecto Patrnum!" she heard him chant. It took a second before a massive torrent of light shot from his wand as the dementors screeched, making her cover her ears. She watched as an animal burst from his wand and began to chase away the shadowy beasts, whose screeches filled the area.

She saw one of them coming towards her, and she felt the world grow cold before that glimmering horse trotted infront of her, though it was no normal horse. As it approached her, she felt a warmth fill her up. The cold and chill from earlier vanished as the dementor screeched before flying away as the horse galloped away again, towards Cassius again.

And then her eyes widened as she saw the glimmering animal fade away. She saw that a dementor had come up on him from behind, and she saw him trying to cast once more, but nothing but sparks came out of his wand

"No! Cassius! Harry!" she screamed as she ran towards him and watched, much to her horror, that the dementors had begun to gather once more.

She was too far away. She tried to reach for her wand to cast the patronus as he had, but it slipped out of her hand.

"NOOO," but then suddenly, she saw a creature shoot out of the castle infront of her. It flew out of one of the towers and tore through the skies and flew straight towards them, and she saw that just as the dementor was able to reach for Cassius, the bird flew in and sent it flying back with screeches once more as the air cracked and a figure emerged infront of her, which made her heart ease.

"Headmaster Dumbledore...."

"LEAVE THEM!" She felt a burst of light emanate out of the man, making her cover her eyes. A storm of light spread all over as the dementors screeched so loudly and fled away. As she opened her eyes, she found the Headmaster standing there looking down at the ground, at the quivering form of her bespectacled friend.

"HARRY!"

0000

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