As he reached towards the hippogriffs' paddock.
Hermione was already waiting there.
She looked radiant and full of life, standing beneath a great oak tree, holding several dead ferrets and feeding them to the hippogriffs.
The great birds came in every colour: dark grey, glossy chestnut, even a pinkish, sandy shade. She did not seem the least afraid of them... she always had a knack for getting close to the overlooked and the fearsome alike, Draco thought, smiling.
Buckbeak was tethered alone off to one side.
"That night, he fought bravely, right through the thick of it against the werewolf, and so he took the worst of the injuries. I have had to keep him apart from the others, and give him special care every day," Hagrid said to Draco, handing him a string of dead ferrets. "Your job is to feed him."
Draco took the string of dead ferrets, carrying it carefully, without a word.
"Listen, Malfoy, Hermione told me you shielded her from that werewolf. That was decent of you," Hagrid said quietly, looking rather uneasily at the pampered young Malfoy, who seemed so out of place in the Forbidden Forest.
"But do not go making Hermione cry again. She is a kind, good girl, and she has always been so generous and giving in helping me out. No one ought to bully her."
Draco glanced at him in surprise... Hagrid's face, beneath its unkempt beard, looked rather stern.
"I know how the Malfoys view Muggle-born witches, and I know what sort of man your father is." Hagrid said to Draco, his face set, "But Hermione insists you are a decent wizard, and I am willing to believe her. But if you ever try to deceive her, hurt her, or do anything untoward to her at all... I shall dock Slytherin a great many points, and I shall tell Professor Dumbledore besides."
Draco was fairly certain Hagrid was, for some reason, taking advantage of his position as Care of Magical Creatures teacher to threaten him.
However, he could not help giving Hagrid a slight nod nonetheless.
The nod did not mean Draco approved of this haphazard teacher; what he approved of was "keeping Hermione from harm."
On that one point, oddly enough, they had reached some sort of understanding.
Hagrid seemed rather pleased. He then called out to the girl feeding the birds, "Hermione, I still have to see to the Bowtruckles. I am leaving Fang here to keep an eye on you!"
Hermione waved to Hagrid from a distance. Hagrid glanced warily at Draco once more, then strode off.
Draco gave the menacing Fang a disdainful smile.
Fang? Whatever could he stop? A coward with a fearsome look, nothing more.
He turned round, meaning to feed the hippogriff named Buckbeak.
He walked slowly forward, gazing at the creature that had once hurt him in his past life... this time, the very creature that had saved him.
"We really do seem fated to meet," he said lazily to it; it tilted its head and eyed him curiously.
Today, Draco resolved to show it his respect, since it deserved nothing less.
He had already memorised the whole procedure perfectly, he simply had not had the chance to try it before:
Hold eye contact, bow first to the hippogriff... this shows one's good intentions... then wait for it to return the bow.
He bowed perfectly, raised his head gracefully, looked straight into its orange eyes, and waited for its response.
Buckbeak seemed to be in rather a good mood.
He returned the bow gracefully in turn... they were friends now.
This is a sort of reconciliation with my past life, Draco thought to himself with a small smile, tossing a dead ferret in front of Buckbeak.
"Well done, Draco."
Hermione had come to stand beside him without his noticing, saying approvingly, "I told you ages ago that bowing to Buckbeak is not so hard."
Yes, and it was all thanks to Hermione's daily encouragement. Lately, she had been at his side almost every day, nagging him for at least half an hour to go and try "bowing to Buckbeak."
"Where is Harry? Why is he skipping his duties?"
Feeling a little self-conscious under Hermione's gaze, Draco pretended to concentrate on picking up a dead ferret still faintly bleeding, then quickly flung it away in disgust.
"Oh, he... he has gone to see Professor Lupin. We heard Professor Lupin is resigning,"
Hermione said sadly. "He feels very sorry about what happened that night, and does not think it right to go on teaching here."
Draco said nothing. Privately, he rather agreed with Lupin's decision to resign.
However kind Lupin might be, his ferocity as a werewolf was not something anyone ought to risk approaching lightly.
Not everyone was lucky enough to have someone howl at exactly the right moment, a second before a werewolf's attack.
"Oh, and by the way, Draco, I still have not thanked you properly..." Hermione brushed the ferret fur from her hands and turned to sit on the great boulder.
Her face flushed slightly all of a sudden. She remembered they had once held hands right here, on this very rock.
The boy was looking at her with a puzzled expression. His grey eyes were remarkably focused, as though they held some kind of magic capable of draining away her reason entirely.
Hermione paused for a few seconds, then, recovering herself, hurriedly added, "I mean, you rushed to protect me that night... I am so grateful to you. Not everyone could be so selfless and brave. But there is something I am curious about... how did you manage to get there in time?"
"That... it might just have been a coincidence." Draco felt terribly guilty, and did his best not to look at the silver glint flashing between her fingers.
"Am I to take that as meaning you came specifically to find me that day?" Hermione raised her bright eyes, staring defiantly into his.
Her heart would still race whenever she looked into his eyes.
But she had to watch them closely, so as not to miss the faintest flicker of expression.
"Indeed... I was rather worried about you." He turned away and went on tossing dead ferrets, finding that no matter where he threw one, Buckbeak could snatch it up with pinpoint accuracy.
This job was proving surprisingly easy.
"How did you know? I was not in the castle, but in the Forbidden Forest." Hermione leant against the boulder, swinging her legs comfortably, though her words were pointed.
"You promised me, up on the Astronomy Tower, that you would be honest with me."
Draco sighed, helpless, and turned to look at her.
He remembered her whispering to him beneath the starlight of the Astronomy Tower, "Draco, I want to do this with you. I hope I am the first person you want to confide in, whenever you run into difficulty. We are not merely study partners, but partners fighting side by side, are we not? I want to help you, to protect you, not simply trail behind you, always the one being protected."
He recalled how deeply those words had moved him, and how he had nodded in agreement, promising to try to be as honest with her as he could from then on, and at least give her proper answers.
Now, she was asking him directly... neither "concealing" nor "escaping" was an option any longer.
Draco suddenly realised he had nowhere left to retreat to.
"I can tell you. But will you promise me first that you will not be angry, once you know?" He sighed, threw away the last ferret, and finally walked over to the boulder and sat down beside her.
She looked at him suspiciously and studied him for a while.
He forced himself to stay calm as he met her gaze, quelling the turmoil inside him.
At last, Hermione nodded to him. "I promise you."
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