CHAPTER 5: HERMIONE MEETS THE TALKING DOOR

"What the hell? That dumb idiot is after you?" Draco's eyes widened in amazement.

Adrian had been what the others in his house classified as the "nice Slytherin," a rare enough thing when everyone else was following the Dark Lord and all, so it had shocked them when he'd become a wanted criminal after going around killing people for gold.

Apparently, there were no such thing as nice Slytherin, well, except Blaise. Blaise was more Gryffindor than Slytherin anyway.

"They must be more than desperate to catch you Granger. That guy is far too good at killing people, and if the Longbottom's hired him of all people, you're screwed. Adrian is an expert at tracking."

"Yes, Malfoy. I'm well aware of that. You think I'm here because I want to see you almost naked? He found my apartment and I don't have anywhere else to go at the moment. My last safe house I had to give up as a false trail for Harry and Ron. I wouldn't be here otherwise."

She glanced around the creepy, dark hallway of the manor and wrapped her arms around herself, pulling the cardigan she was wearing closer to her body to keep in the warmth and away whatever horrors wanted to infiltrate her mind.

"Right, those two buffoon are after you too." Draco let out a sigh and ran a hand through his ruffled hair, "remind me again why you were ever friends with them?"

She was far too good to be hanging out with two people who didn't trust her enough to know that she wasn't a killer, for Merlin's sake.

"Look, I'm not here to discuss that. This is where the favour comes in. I wouldn't be asking you this if I had any other options. I considered the street, but it will probably snow tonight and I can't afford to get sick."

Draco ignored the fact that she made it sound like he was the very last resort and one that she still didn't want to use. "I need a place to stay- just for the night. No one will believe that I would come here of all places, so he won't track me here. Just for the night. I can leave in the morning."

She looked away from him, her face flushing slightly as she stared at the carpet like it was something that she'd never seen before in her life, her fingers wringing anxiously, waiting for his answer.

Draco stared at her.

There was dust all over her clothes, a bruise blossoming on her left cheek, she looked completely lost and absolutely... no, nothing. He knew all too well that the Hermione Granger that he knew would never ask for help unless she had no other options. She was stubborn and determined and it sort of stung somewhere in his chest that it was her own friends that had caused her to sink low enough to request help from him.

What were Pothead and Weasel thinking, doing this to the only one in the world that gave a crap about them during the years that they had no one else?

"Granger, I may be a jerk, but I know how be nice. Sometimes. I'll find you a room somewhere upstairs." He paused, finding the astonished expression on her face somewhat insulting, "but you have to promise me a few things first, Granger."

She looked quite taken aback, but nodded anyway, her face turning serious in an instant, listening keenly. Like she always did.

"Firstly, don't leave your room until morning. There are parts of this house even I don't know, so if you get lost, well, the world won't have to worry about you killing them because no one is going to find you for a million years."

Hermione looked at him like she wanted to punch him again. Draco took a small, almost unnoticeable step away from her right hand.

"Secondly, you can stay here as long as you need to. It can't be easy finding accommodation, and you are right. No one is going to think that you will be here of all places, so you're safe here. If you want to leave tomorrow morning, that's fine too."

She narrowed her eyes, but nodded slowly, not knowing how else to react to Draco Malfoy being considerate for nothing much in return.

"Thirdly, don't wake me up before I wake up! I enjoy my sleep and any lack of it won't be healthy for you or for me."

Hermione found her lips pulling into a smile at the memory of trying to get Draco Malfoy to wake up in the morning at Hogwarts. She'd had to ask Blaise to do so, since she couldn't enter his room, and the poor boy had always returned with a black eye or something similar. Draco Malfoy enjoyed his sleep more than anything else in the world.

"I know about your sleeping habits, Malfoy."

"Well, clearly you don't Granger. It's three am. I didn't know there was a three in the morning until now. Thanks." He ran a hand through his hair and yawned loudly. "C'mon. I suppose you should get some sleep too, you look terrible."

Hermione chose not to comment on that and simply gave him a dry smile.

Draco walked up the stairs, slowly, watching her in his peripheral vision. She hesitated for a moment, looking around herself like she wanted nothing more than to run the hell away, but she gathered up her courage and followed him.

It was only after the silence seemed to bear down on the both of them that Hermione realised something and gasped a little too loudly for her liking, making Draco turn around in surprise and look at her like she was crazy.

"What the hell, Granger? Are you trying to make me fall down the stairs and injure myself?" he muttered.

She let out a huff of air and crossed her arms, "no. I was just wondering where the paintings went. You know, the ones that would be yelling at me by now?"

"Ah, those. I got rid of them, put them away. They were annoying. The house elves too. I gave them all a sock each and sent them on their merry ways. Does that please you, Granger?" he looked at her, she was staring at him in disbelief, eye brows raised in confusion.

"That must have been a lot of socks to give out..." she muttered, walking past him like she owned the place in an attempt to hide her true surprise at his words.

She'd known that he'd changed, but to free the elves and get rid of the paintings was...something substantially different from what the boy she'd met in her first year at Hogwarts would have done. He was still the man that she'd managed to sort of befriend during their final repeat year at Hogwarts.

She reached the top first and glanced at the dark hallway that led to the West Wing, her fingers clenching automatically. "Not that way Granger. I don't use that part of the house anymore. Come this way." He went left and she followed, nodding along and trying to supress the shiver that ran down her spine at the memory of being dragged down there and being tortured.

That hadn't been fun.

There was no way that he could put her in a room in the West Wing; she would probably kill him and run away if she entered those rooms anytime soon.

They walked silently through the long corridor like hallway, the only sounds were their footsteps that were muffled on the carpeted floor. Draco rubbed is arms, only then realising that he was not exactly dressed appropriately to greet visitors and feeling quite cold in nothing but silk boxers and feeling somewhat insulted that she hadn't checked him out yet. Her eyes remained above his neck at all times.

As if anyone could resist Draco Malfoy. She was probably having a mental breakdown or too shocked to notice all the good looking-ness in front of her.

Clearing his thoughts from that dangerous territory, Draco stopped beside the first room that came up that was remotely clean and was actually a bedroom, only two doors down from his own room, but far enough that she wouldn't feel weird.

"You can stay here. It's a guest bedroom. It might be a little dusty...no house elves...but it should suffice for now."

She nodded and moved past him to open the door, wincing when the creaking door groaned. "Do you know how Adrian managed to catch up to you? Did you have any traces on you or something?" Draco asked, watching her struggle to push open the door in amusement.

She glared at him and rolled her eyes, "no. you think I wouldn't know if someone places a tracking spell on me? I invented most of the common ones, Malfoy, I know how to counteract all of them. What pisses me off is that he made it inside my apartment before my wards went off." She stopped and put her hands on her hips, looking at the door like it was an opponent.

He held up a hand for her to wait and ran back to his room, grabbing his wand from under his pillow and running back. "You didn't think about grabbing a dressing gown or something too?" Hermione muttered, looking at the ceiling.

Draco grinned. "Whatever Granger, you know you like this, everyone knows I'm hot. Now, watch this fool proof plan to remove you from his track."

"Wait, did you open the front door unarmed? Do you how dangerous that is? What if I'd been a serial...oh...never mind" she let out a sigh, and waved off the rest of her comment.

He chose not to reply and motioned for her to wait as he held out his wand and waved it at the door, "Custodi in occulto."

A gloss appeared across the door, spreading from the tip of his wand and to the door, across its whole surface and glowing brightly, before returning to normal.

Hermione went over his words, trying to translate it, something about secrets and protection was all she could understand. "and that was what?" She asked, not willing to take a step towards the now magical door.

He motioned for her to open the door, smiling at her innocently, which did nothing to make her feel better about doing anything he said. "...Malfoy?"

"Just open the bloody door, Granger."

Hermione felt a moment of panic build up inside her. What if the moment she touched it, she would be transported to the Ministry? What if he actually had cared about Pansy, enough to put a kill-at-contact sheen on the door? What if all this was an act to imprison her and kill her slowly and painfully?

She dismissed all of them as soon as they appeared in her head. If he had wanted to kill her, he could have done that ages ago, same with sending her to the Ministry. As for Pansy, she found Draco Malfoy caring about anything other than himself hard to believe.

His ego was too full of itself to care for anything other than itself.

She slowly put her palm to the handle, twisting it, but nothing happened. It refused to open, just as it had before.

She turned around to ask him what kind of a stupid joke this was when a voice asked, "At what age did the occupant show their first signs of magic?"

Hermione froze and turned on her heel to face the door, narrowing her eyes slightly and staring at it in confusion.

"Malfoy, am I actually going crazy or did the door just speak?" she muttered.

Draco smirked, it was a very useful spell, and one of the only ones that he'd invented himself back when he'd been with Pansy and she wouldn't leave him alone. The only way to enter the room was to answer the question that only the occupant would know. It was like Ravenclaw's Dormitory, except much better, in his opinion.

What more, the charmed room wouldn't appear in the Manor's house plans anymore either, and anyone within the room wouldn't exist, even if spells were used to find them. Within this room, Hermione Granger wouldn't be found.

He was a genius, and by the look on her face, she had no idea what the hell was going on. He memorized that expression on her face. The one of few times that he'd managed to shock her.

Hermione let go of the handle and faced him with an expression on her face that asked him why the door was talking. There was a part of her that was excited at the idea of new magic spells that she didn't know and another part of her that wondered why she was really surprised by this.

If paintings could talk, why not doors?

Except paintings had people or objects in them usually that could utilize vocal cords to make a noise, and a door was an inanimate object.

He motioned for her to move aside and grasped the handle, the same question was repeated. Hermione still seemed confused; Draco thought for a second. When would Hermione Granger, witch-extraordinaire, figured she had magic?

"Two?"

There was a pause and then Hermione watched as Draco was thrown back, groaning when his back hit the opposite wall and he crumpled to the ground.

She raised an eyebrow as he got up, wondering if he was mad. "Malfoy, if you want to be hurt that bad, you could've just asked me. Now please explain what the hell is going on. Why is the door talking?"

"Just answer the question Granger! That's the only way to open the door. It's a safety charm to keep you out of trouble. The only way to enter your room is to answer questions that only you know," he said under his breath as he rubbed his back, getting up and taking in a deep breath. Damn that hurt more than he thought it would have.

No wonder Pansy had always been complaining about her back...he'd placed this charm on a lot of the doors in the Manor to avoid her.

Hermione grasped the handle and hesitated before turning to face him, "but Malfoy, I don't know when I showed my first signs of magic" she whispered.

The door swung open and Hermione stumbled back in surprise, letting go of the handle quickly and putting her hands deep into the pockets of her jeans.

Draco looked at her incredulously, "what do you mean you don't know?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean? I mean I don't know when I first did magic, my parents were muggle dentists remember?" she said, avoiding looking at him. She watched the door instead as it remained open.

He narrowed his eyes, knowing that there was something she wasn't telling him. "Yes but, wouldn't they have told you? It would have been a pretty big deal, right? Their normal daughter suddenly being able to do magical things?"

She sighed, and crossed her arms. "Well they didn't, must have slipped their mind. Now explain to me how this charm works."

Draco narrowed his eyes, but deicide to let it go. Pushing her would only make her more defensive and the she would never tell him anything.

"The only way to get in is by answering the door, when you touched the handle; it pretty much read your life, so it asks you a question, only you'll be able to answer."

Hermione shot him a panicked glare. "You mean this door knows my whole life story?"

He gaped at her. Well, he hadn't exactly thought about it like that. "Granger, it's a door. It's a wooden door. Relax. Besides, only you know the answers, so only you can enter, that was the whole purpose of it, not because I wanted my door to memorise your life."

She huffed, looking at the door in disgust, though Draco could tell she was glad that he was putting up with her. If she was really pissed off at him, she would have hexed him to next Wednesday by now.

"Look, let's try this again, then." He grasped the handle again, closing the door. As soon as it locked shut, the door talked again, but this time the question changed. "What is the occupant's newest secret?"

Draco felt her stiffen next to him as the question was asked; he glanced over at her and realized that she was deadly pale, her eyes wide in shock, she glared at him. "Right and you're sure this isn't you trying to figure out everything about me?"

"No, it's a form of protection, now shut up."

Hermione sighed, and glanced at the door nervously.

She wanted to yell at him, call him names, run away again, but she had nowhere to go at this hour, and she was tired, and she knew that what he said was true. With questions like that, only she would be able to enter, she would be protected. She glanced at him as he tried to figure out the answer, biting his lip in thought, probably not wanting to get thrown against a wall again.

He hadn't really changed at all.

He was still the caring boy she knew from the last year at Hogwarts, and no matter how hard he tried to hide his helpful side, it had a way of showing up. She felt her lips twist up into a small smile, thinking back to the few moments with the infamous Malfoy at Hogwarts that had surprised her.

They'd really become good friends, something both Harry and Ron hadn't been able to understand, but she'd never felt more comfortable with anyone more than with him. There was something about Malfoy that made her feel safe and protected. He wasn't the type to betray friends, and he'd told her so.

Draco frowned; she looked scared, like the answer to this particular question was something she'd rather he didn't hear, like if he heard the answer, he would act differently around her or something.

What the hell kind of secrets did Hermione Granger have that would make her act like that? Maybe she was the one that was killing people? Maybe she had an expired loan on a book? Perhaps she'd failed a test once upon a time in her life?

"She's in love with me," he answered confidently, and was momentarily happy to see her roll her eyes. For a second, nothing happened and the door creaked like it was about to open. Draco turned to look at the furious face of Hermione Granger, but then he got thrown against the wall again.

Hermione almost jumped in to stop him, but his answer made her hesitate, the door remained closed however, and she let out a deep breath.

Draco got up of the floor and winced as his back cracked, well that was what you get with that type of spell. The wrong answer got you hurt, he winced again, very hurt.

"Answer the question, Granger and go to sleep, and remember, don't go exploring or something and get yourself lost. If I wake up because you got yourself lost in the garden or something and I don't get my sleep, there will be consequences, and not the good kind." He yawned and walked away, rubbing his back like an old man.

Hermione watched him walk to his room, and then flushed red and looked away because he was still clad in boxers and it would not look right if he decided to turn around.

She waited until he entered his room and closed the door behind him, before grasping the handle again.

"What is the occupant's newest secret?" it asked. Hermione paused, and then swallowed, her heart increasing in tempo. She whispered the answer and ran into her room, slamming the door behind her before letting out a deep breath.

Draco, who'd been listening through the crack in his doorway, almost fell face first onto the floor, his eyes growing wide in shock, and his mouth opening in confusion. He heard her bedroom door open and close.

He closed his mouth and ran back to her door, skidding to a stop in front and staring at it, wondering if it was true. It had to be true, the charm didn't allow lies at all. But if that was the case...how was that possible?

No wonder she didn't want him to know the answer to that question. It put a stop to everything he'd ever thought about her during school, every mean comment and name-calling had been worthless, and useless. Everything was different now.

Her answer:

"I'm a pure-blooded witch."