HP: The Unchosen One-(Malfoy SI)

Chapter 2

Around two years later!

HERMIONE GRANGER-3rd Year

Her Third Year at Hogwarts had begun with another surprise as the Wizarding World held its breath as it saw its most secure and dangerous prison escaped by one Sirius Black.

Black had been sentenced to life in Azkaban for murdering more than a dozen people, including a hero of the Wizarding World named Peter Pettigrew. He was a follower of the Dark Lord known as Voldemort, a man so ferocious that even now years after his fall wizards dared not speak his name.

And the most harrowing part was that the man was not dead. The Dark Lord still lived, as she and her friends had learned during their interaction with him in their first year.

And that was when it had all begun really, from facing a troll in the washrooms to facing the three-headed dog of Hagrid and then the devil's snare, and that was not even the end of the First year.

Her second year had started off weird as well, with her two dearest friends, Harry and Ron, being made to fly in a car to school, which was then shocked by the petrification of Filch's cat, with the ominous words written behind it in blood, speaking of the reopening of the fabled Chamber of Secrets.

And then a series of attacks followed suit until they would suddenly stop, only for them to be never repeated again. And even now, a year later, no suspect had been apprehended for the attacks, and few realized just what lingered in Salazar Slytherin's chamber.

Now, in her third year, the start again was not so promising as the Azkaban guards, the Dementors, were now stationed at all school entrances and exits to sniff out the evil Sirius Black, who could very well target Harry, trying to get revenge for his Master—the Dark Lord.

But her troubles at the moment were not with the dementors, even though she was not blind to the effect they were having on her dear friend Harry. No, their troubles all came from one person.

Draco Malfoy, or more importantly, his little alteration with the Hippogriff named Buckbeak, during the first lesson of their new Care of Magical Creatures Professor, Hagrid.

"A complaint has been lodged against Buckbeak in the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures," Harry repeated as he read the crooked handwriting of the former game-keeper, and now Professor.

"It must be Malfoy's work, he warned us that he would not let this go," Ron complained, as his shoulders.

"That git!" and she did not admonish him for his language as they all sat near the fireplace in the common room, thinking about their friend.

"Malfoy will not let this go. He will have Buckbeak executed," Harry added, and while Malfoy himself was not powerful enough, they all knew who backed him.

His father, Lucius Malfoy, was a former Death Eater and a follower of the Dark Lord Voldemort. Although he bribed his way out of Azkaban, he still follows the pure-blood dogma to this day.

The Malfoys were an old family, rich and influential. With Malfoy complaining to the man, it would not take much to convince him to have Buckbeak executed even though his injury had been little more than a scratch and had been caused by his own actions.

"But Hagrid could go to Dumbledore," Harry added, and that was true. If the Malfoys were influential, so was their Headmaster, but Ron was quick to point out the flaw in the statement.

"Dumbeldore has enough on his plate with the dementors and Sirius Black escaping Azkaban. I doubt he would be able to help Hagrid much," Ron had a point.

"Then we must help him," Harry quickly added, and she agreed with him.

"We could try and help him fight the case. Perhaps we could look at past actions of the Committee and convince them that Buckbeak is not a threat," she added, and they owed the man this.

Hagrid had finally been granted the opportunity to fulfill his dream to become a professor and teach. There was no way that she was going to let Draco destroy it.

"It wouldn't matter much," Ron added hopelessly.

"Lucius Malfoy has got the entire Ministry in his pocket, I doubt they would give the poor animal a fair trial, especially since it has wounded his precious boy," and loathsome as it was, she knew it to be true.

And as she raked her mind for ideas, she found just the one.

"There is one person who can do..." but she halted herself from voicing out her thoughts as soon as she made sense of them.

"What?" Ron asked as he began working on his homework once more.

"Nothing," she lied, even as she realized that it was their only chance. And she was the only one of them who could do it.

Ron just shrugged and went back to copying her essay as Harry eyed Hagrid's badly written letter with a sad expression, as suddenly Ron screamed and broke her out of her trance.

"Watch that car of yours!" Ron screamed as he scooped up his pet rat from the floor as Scabbers jumped into her lap.

"I told you not to buy it," he went off on her as he glared at Crookshanks.

"She has been eyeing Scabbers since the day you bought her," and she rolled her eyes, as Ron glared at her pet cat.

"No, it is not," she retorted sharply as she rose up.

"I am going to bed," she spoke sharply before turning towards Harry, who was still eyeing the letter.

"And don't worry too much about Hagrid and Buckbeak Harry," she spoke to him softly as Ron made a face at her cat.

"It will all be fine," and he seemed a bit confused by her words yet nodded nonetheless as she walked up the stairs towards the girl dorms before plopping down on her bed. And as she lay there, she thought once more about the viability of the idea that had come to her mind and, despite her own reservations, decided to give it a shot.

.

.

.

.

.

And so, the next day dawned, and they had their classes. They were yet to have a class with the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. However, she had only heard praises about the man from the Ravenclaw and the Hufflepuff students, who had their first class a day before them.

And as she attended her record-breaking four elective classes, her eyes continuously found their way to the black-haired boy sitting at the back of her Runes and Arithmancy class, the only two classes she had ever shared with the boy, apart from that impromptu Duelling class from Profes...Lockhart last year.

And so, as another tiring day came to an end, Hermione made her way to the Library rather than the Gryffindor dorms as she once more searched for that black hair. As expected, she found it there in the back, sitting opposite a pair of girls, one with golden blonde hair and the other one with a shade of brown a bit darker than her own.

And she recognized the two of them from her own year and class, for she had shared a class with them for two years now.

And yet she walked forward, her heart thumping, her fingers wrapped around a book as she approached the black-haired boy, so engrossed in his book that he missed her walking towards him.

"Cassius," she slowly called out his name, and saw both girls sitting opposite to the boy look up suddenly, their eyes widening in surprise at her presence before the boy in question's gaze followed suit.

And as he did, she was once again reminded of her own misgivings about the boy, all of which had stemmed from that face, or more specifically, its similarities to that of a Slytherin boy who had become sort of a rival to her friend Harry Potter.

But he was not a Slytherin. Not him. He was in Ravenclaw, and if two years ago she had chosen a bit differently, both of them would be sharing a dorm.

Would they have become friends, she thought? As she saw those dark eyes narrow at her.

"Granger," he called out her name, and while his voice was similar to his own brother, it carried none of the vehemence and loathing of Draco Malfoy or the rest of his so-called fellows.

And as she became quiet, he raised a brow before waving his hands.

"What do you want?" and there was a bit of annoyance in his tone. It justified in a way, given that she had rather openly declared him to be the culprit behind the series of attacks linked to the heir of Slytherin.

Even going so far as to use Polyjuice Potion to try and get him to slip up, and reveal his secret. Not that it had worked, and in the end, he had figured out her plan within minutes, yet thankfully, he had not taken her to a professor and had spared her the punishment and the humiliation.

"I was hoping I could talk to you for a bit," she whispered, asking him to come out of the library given that Madam Pince would not let them talk here, and he looked into her eyes before he nodded and closed his book.

"Keep my spot," he said to the blonde opposite to her, a girl named Daphne from Slytherin in her own year, as he stood up and followed her out of the library.

And as they left the premises, he was the first to open his mouth.

"You must have some courage, Granger," he taunted, yet not in a malicious way as his twin would. But in a more playful way, as he raised his brow.

"Asking to talk with me, Slyhterin's heir, all by yourself," and she sighed at the jab.

"I have already apologized profusely for the misunderstanding," and he smiled as he shrugged.

"I still cannot believe how you came to such a conclusion," and he had a short chuckle as she felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment, given the hypothesis had made much sense at the time.

She had concluded that Slytherin's heir needed to be smart enough to get away with all the attacks, to carry them out under Dumbledore's watchful eye, and still manage to get away.

And while Draco seemed to be the obvious choice, she knew that the older Mafoy boy had little to no tact for such a grand plan. However, the same could not be said for his younger twin, one who had chosen to be sorted into Ravenclaw, perhaps to hide his true nature.

After all, what would be more cunning than to hide yourself in another House?

Alas! She was wrong and had caused great trouble for the boy opposite to him and much embarrassment for herself.

"It made sense at the time," she defended herself, and he gave her a disappointed look.

"Moving on, what do you want from me, Granger?" he asked as she took a deep breath and chose to voice out the purpose of her visit.

"I need you to make your brother stop faking his injury and halt the proceedings against Buckbeak the Hippogriff," and she saw his eyes widen at her words.

"It's already happened," he whispered a bit animatedly, making her frown.

"What?" she asked as he shook his head.

"Nothing, I get it. But why should I do that?" he asked with a raised brow, and she had expected this.

After half a year of following him, she knew one thing about Cassius Malfoy—that he was an aspiring businessman, one who would hardly ever do something without extracting something for himself.

And she really did not have much to offer him.

"What do you want?" because in this entire school if there was anyone who could reign in Draco Malfoy, a task which even most of the teachers failed in doing, it was him.

Cassius Malfoy was the only one who could reign in his brother, for she had seen it happen infront of her eyes when Draco had uttered the words 'mud-blood' for her.

She had seen it—seen Cassius the second he had learned of that and how, within a day of him knowing, a red-faced Draco had approached her at the end of a lesson, uttering an apology.

"I could do your homework," she offered what little she could as the boy raised a brow.

"Do you think I am Weasley?" she flushed at that, something of a common occurrence whenever she came face to face with him for some reason. Perhaps, because of what she had done to him over the years, rejecting his offer of friendship, accusing him of being Slyhterin's heir, stalking him for half a year before using Polyjuice Potion to incriminate him.

There was plenty the boy knew that could perhaps lead to her expulsion, and yet he had never done her any harm.

And he was smart. He was the only one whose grades could compare to her own, and while she did manage to edge him out when it came to theory, she was no match for him when it came to wandwork, and he was miles ahead of her in it.

"I am sorry," she apologized, but a part of her was hopeful, given that he had not outright rejected her request as she had feared. Now, they just had to reach a compromise.

"Then what?" she asked, and he rubbed his chin.

"I know just the thing," he voiced out as he looked her in the eye.

"What?" she asked.

"The Marauder's Map..." and she frowned at that, not realizing what it was.

"What is that..." and he smiled.

"A little something you can help me broker a deal out of..."

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