"I'll Always Love You……"
She walked up the steps, desperation flooding her every thought. Why? Why did he have to do this to me, why did they have to? She began opening the door, with only one thought in mind….
Hermione was reading in the library, as usual, when Draco walked up to her.
"Hey, Mudblood, your boyfriends having a little 'fun', if you get my meaning." Draco chuckled as he sauntered away.
Hermione stared at her book for what seemed like hours. "Your lying, Ron would never do that." she finally choked out. Would he?
She slowly made her way back to the prefect's room, as each prefect shared a dorm with the other from their house and Ron was the other Gryffindor prefect. She had told Ron she wouldn't be back for a couple hours, having to "catch up" on reading and get ahead on homework. She took a deep breath in and reached for the doorknob, but a quiet moan made her stop. She held her breathe, convinced her wildly beating heart would give her away, and placed her ear to the door.
"Oh god, Ron. That was good, we should do it again sometime." came a familiar voice.
"Anytime, just don't let Hermione know." answered a male voice. It being Ron, of course.
"Like she would find out anyway. She wouldn't suspect us, alone you." giggled the same voice.
"You should probably go, she'll be back here soon." Ron said.
After a bit of rustling around and quite a bit of laughing, the door opened quickly. Hermione was still pressed against it, unable to believe what she had just heard. She went flying into whoever it was that had opened the door.
"Hermione I can explain." Ron burst out, turning his well known red color.
She just gawked at the two people standing before her. She couldn't believe it, the two people she trusted most were standing before her. It was Ron and Harry.
"Hermione please, just listen…." Harry pleaded.
She turned and fled, not thinking were she was headed and not caring either. She finally stopped to catch her breath at the bottom of the Astronomy Tower.
She reached the top of the tower and the cold, crisp air stung her cheeks and made her already running eyes water more. She walked to the edge of the railing and looked down into the welcoming darkness below. This is the only way out, she told herself, the only way to escape the pain and betrayal. She hoisted herself onto the edge, opened her arms and let herself fall forward. Then everything went black.
People were murmuring. There were two maybe three voices, a creaking of a door then nothing. She opened her eyes, not sure what to expect, but certainly not this.
Draco was sitting in a chair next to the bed she was laying in. But the Slytherin Prince was not the only unnerving thing. Everything in the room was either green or silver. Yet she knew it wasn't the Slytherin common room, it couldn't be. No, because it was the Slytherin prefect dorm. Hermione sat up and began screaming. Draco got up quickly and pinned her down covering her mouth.
"Now I'll let you go if you promise to stop your noise making." Draco hissed in her ear. Hermione nodded as best she could to show that she understood.
As soon as his hands were off her mouth, she began calling him every foul name she could think of. After she ran out of hateful things to say, there was an awkward silence.
"That's no way to treat your savior." Draco said with mock sadness.
"I didn't need saving, unless it was from you." Hermione spat back, tears filling her eyes as all the memories of the night came flooding back in a painful wave.
Draco's eyes changed from humorous to pity to sadness in less than a second. Hermione was so shocked that she quit crying. She just stared at him, not able to comprehend his sudden showing of emotions.
"I'm sorry, Hermione." Draco said softly, biting his lower lip.
"Wh-what did you just say?" Hermione whispered back, stunned into almost silence.
"I said I was sorry, but not just for tonight, for everything." he looked her in the eyes and she knew it was no lie.
"I don't understand, why did you have to tell me?" she looked at the forest green comforter and began picking at the fringe.
"Because I thought you should know. I would want to. And besides, you deserve better than that weasel and pothead you call friends." he replied.
"Even though what they did was horrible, they're still my friends, I think. God, you should have just let me fall, it would have been better for all of us." Hermione's voice broke as she finished her sentence.
"That's not true." Draco said forcefully.
"How would you know? I'm just a filthy mudblood remember? Why would you care?" She shot back, her voice full of bitterness and anger.
Draco sat for a minute before answering, "Because…because I like you, a lot, ok?"
For the second time that night, Hermione was shocked to silence. She looked at him, eyes like saucers and mouth a big gaping hole. After several silent minutes, Hermione finally said, "But why?"
"You ask questions too much. But if you must know, I have no idea. I just realized it one day about a year and a half ago." he replied with a shrug. "And I knew I would eventually get you, I'm Draco Malfoy, Sex God of Hogwarts."
Hermione giggled, "As usual you are an egotistical, selfish person. But you seem to have a good heart, I guess. And I suppose I owe you an apology, so I'm sorry."
"Good, now then, I think we should start over, now that all is forgiven. Hi, I'm Draco Malfoy. And you are?" he said sarcastically.
"Pleased to meet you. My name is Hermione Granger." she replied back with a hint of a smirk.
At that, they both burst out laughing, unable to stop for some time. And when they would quiet down, they'd look at each other and start up again. Good thing it was a Saturday night, or Sunday morning, whichever way you prefer.