AN: This was the FIRST EVER FanFiction that I wrote. I haven't changed much…more for my purposes, so that I can see how much I've changed since this time. I wrote it in…2003. And I went through about SIXTY MILLION titles…I still dunno if this one fits…but oh well.
(Another) AN: OH MY GOSH!! FINE! She only walked TWENTY KILOMETRES!! ARE YOU HAPPY!?!? Now QUIT WITH THE "that's impossible" REVIEWS ALREADY! Honestly!
Torn
It was the fifth year for Harry and friends at Hogwarts and at the start of the year, Professor Dumbledore had announced that there would be a new common room for each year so that students' from different houses could socialise in a place other than the library.
Hermione was quite excited about this because she was all into inter-house cooperation and was ready to start making as many new friends as possible.
Harry and Ron on the other hand weren't nearly as excited as Hermione as all of their friends (in their year level) were from Gryfindor.
Dumbledore said the houses were ready now and he proceeded to tell each level their own password.
It was a term and a half since the start of the year and Harry and Ron were looking for Hermione.
"She's probably in the mixed common room. That's like, her new favourite place." Ron said.
"Who would have thought that the library would ever be replaced?" Harry chuckled.
Ron and Harry started walking towards the mixed common room and when they got there and spoke the password (Cartwheels) and the door swung open and they heard laughter from inside.
There were two voices laughing and they both sounded oddly familiar.
One they knew was Hermione's and the other, no, it couldn't be. It wouldn't be.
They kept walking and the side of the couch came into view. On the couch was a pair of feet they recognised as Hermione's.
They kept walking slowly and in silence. More of Hermione came into view and they realised she was leaning on a guy.
Both Ron and Harry became a bit mad at this. Hermione had found a guy she liked and she hadn't told them.
They rounded the corner and a gasp came from both their mouths. Harry then said, "How could you Hermione?" before striding rapidly out of the room with Ron hot on his tail.
Hermione and Draco had looked up sharply at the sound of the gasps.
A sneer appeared almost instantly on Draco's face and Hermione's showed utmost dismay.
When Harry and Ron left the room, Hermione leapt up and called out "Wait!"
They ignored her.
Hermione turned around and told Draco "I've gotta go" before swiftly kissing him and running out of the room after Harry and Ron.
She ran after them calling their names but neither turned around.
Finally, they reached Gryfindor common room and as Hermione stepped inside, Harry and Ron turned around to face her.
Hermione could see confusion and anger in their eyes but the emotion that showed most clearly was hurt.
"How could you Hermione?" Harry shouted. The Gryfindor common room was packed and several heads turned around to see what was happening.
Hermione and Ron were always arguing but none of them had ever heard Harry and Hermione argue.
Hermione must have done something terrible too because not only was Harry shouting, but also the hurt showed clearly in his voice.
"Malfoy of all people!" he yelled.
More heads turned around.
"He's a slimy git Hermione! You said it yourself!" Ron was shouting now.
Nearly all the people in the common room were watching them now.
"He's not!" Hermione shouted back. "You don't know hi-"
"How long?" Harry interrupted her. "And tell the truth!"
"Four months." Hermione answered.
Harry and Ron stared at her in silence with their mouths open. All three were oblivious to the fact that the whole common room was watching in awe.
"Why didn't you tell us Hermione?" Harry blurted out angrily.
"Because I knew you'd react like this!" Hermione answered, more upset that anything else.
"Well duh!" Ron practically screamed. "Our best friend is going out with our worst enemy and you didn't know we'd react badly?"
"If you got to know him you'd realise he's not that bad." Hermione cried.
"I don't want to know him and quite frankly, I don't think I want to know you any more Granger." With that, Ron stormed out of the room and Harry, after glaring briefly at Hermione, followed him into their dormitory.
Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes and she ran out of the common room, shoving Ginny out of the way harshly when she tried to stop her.
"We've got to go after her!"
It was 3am and Ginny was trying to convince Fred and George to come and help her look for Hermione who hadn't been back since the episode with Harry and Ron.
"She could be anywhere outside!" Ginny was saying.
"How do you know she's even outside?" Fred asked.
"Because," Ginny answered quickly, "if she was still in the school, Filch or someone would have found her!"
"Oh…" the twins answered. Then George said suddenly, "OK, we'll come. But, well take our brooms. We'll cover more ground that way. Quick, go get warmer clothes on and bring some extra in case we find her. It's bloody freezing out there."
The three of them ran up their respective stairs, and five minutes later, were mounting their brooms and flying out the window.
"How'll we know where to start looking?" Fred asked.
"Well, there's a fairly thick layer of snow on the ground and no new stuff since yesterday." Ginny called from ahead. "We'll be able to see her footprints."
"When'd she get so smart?" George asked. Fred just shrugged.
Hermione stumbled slowly through the snow.
She didn't know where she was going or how she was going to get there.
She had been walking for ages.
She was freezing cold but she didn't care.
She just forced herself to go on until she collapsed unconscious in the snow.
Five minutes after Hermione collapsed, three figures on broomsticks appeared on the horizon.
When Fred, George and Ginny arrived next to Hermione, Fred leant over to check her pulse.
Relief showed all over his face when he looked up.
"She's alive."
An hour or so later, Fred, George and Ginny rushed through the doors of the hospital wing still holding their broomsticks with Hermione on a stretcher in front of them.
"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"She got upset and ran off. She was about 20 miles (AN: There! You bloody happy yet!? She DID have hours to walk the distance you know!) away from here." George answered.
"Well, leave her to me. I'll fix her up." Madam Pomfrey shooed the others out and told them to get some rest.
"Fixing Hermione up" however, was not as easy as it seemed.
The snow and cold had penetrated deep into Hermione's body and she was only just hanging on to life.
Draco was in the hospital wing sitting next to Hermione constantly unless he was in classes.
He would have slept there if he were allowed!
Harry and Ron were getting a hard time from all the Gryfindors because nearly all of them saw how they treated Hermione and those who hadn't seen, had heard about it from their friends. They all thought Harry and Ron treated her irrationally and unfairly.
The next morning, Draco was coming down the marble staircase for breakfast after visiting Hermione again.
He saw Ron and Harry.
He was filled with such a rage as he had never felt before. He couldn't understand it.
He swiftly went up to Harry and Ron who didn't notice him.
Until he grabbed them both by their throats and with amazing strength, pinned them against the wall.
"If she dies because of you," he said in a deadly whisper, "you will regret it."
Ron and Harry, recovering from their shock, started struggling against Malfoy.
He tightened his grip.
"Believe me, your lives will not be worth living if she dies. I will personally make them living hell." Draco continued, still in a whisper. "You are her best friends, she is in a critical condition in the hospital wing and you haven't even been to visit her. Great friends you are. You don't deserve to have her as a friend."
And he walked back up the marble staircase.
Harry and Ron looked at his retreating back in shock.
There had been so much emotion in his eyes.
Anger, upset, worry, hate, determination, and something neither Harry nor Ron could pick.
Love. (AN: Hehehe, corny, I know! Lol)
Harry and Ron entered the hospital wing just after lunch.
They spotted Hermione's bed in the corner and started over.
They stopped however, when they realised there was someone already there.
Draco.
He was leaning on Hermione's bed and facing her.
As Harry and Ron approached, he looked up.
He scowled at them and gave them a look of utmost hatred before turning back to Hermione.
They returned the look before sitting down also.
After a while, Harry and Draco fell asleep but Ron stayed awake.
Why did I call her Granger? He asked himself. That's definitely what upset her the most. If it wasn't for me she might not have been here. It's my fault if she dies.
After a while, Ron too fell into an uneasy sleep.
It was nearly dinnertime when Hermione awoke.
She was still feeling weak but she was awake at least.
She sat up and noticed someone sleeping next to her elbow.
She looked and realised it was Draco.
She beamed.
Then she noticed a slight movement at the end of her bed.
Hermione looked over sharply.
It was Ron.
A flicker of hope fluttered in her chest.
Maybe…
She looked to her left.
Harry.
She was overjoyed.
If Harry and Ron were here, maybe that meant they'd forgiven her.
She poked Draco awake and as soon as he realised what was happening, he yelled with such joy as he had never felt before.
He gave Hermione a massive hug and whilst doing that he was telling her "What the heck did you think you were doing? Running off like that! You could have bloody died! Don't EVER do that again!"
Harry and Ron had woken up when Malfoy yelled and were now watching them hug each other franticly with looks of guilt on their faces.
When Hermione looked up at Ron and Harry, there was an awkward silence until everyone spoke at once.
"I'm so sorry! I should have told you!"
"Hermione we totally over reacted! We were too harsh."
"I really don't know why I called you Granger, we were so unfair!"
Awkward silence
"I should have trusted you, you found out in the worst way possible."
"We shouldn't have gone off at you like that, and in front of all the rest of the Gryfindors too."
"We were so unfair. We should have let you have your say."
Awkward silence
Hermione got out of bed and gave Ron and Harry a hug.
Five days later, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the mixed common room laughing and talking when the portrait door opened and Draco Malfoy stepped in.
Harry and Ron stopped talking abruptly.
Hermione looked warningly at them both before motioning for Draco to sit down.
"Look Potter," Draco started after a pause, "we got off to a crap start. Want to start over?"
All four of them went down together for lunch that day and when Dumbledore saw them talking and laughing together, he thought to himself, Good. The mixed common rooms were a good idea after all. They worked well.
AN: Sigh of relief The end. And to all you PRICKS who made such a BIG BLOODY DEAL over the fact that Hermione walked 650 miles, as I said before…I PUSHED THE BLOODY 6 BUTTON ACCIDENTALLY!! It was only meant to be 50 miles, which, ok fine, I admit, is a bit much (I'm a kilometre girl, ok?). But was it necessary for "FluffTooCan" to write a bloody ESSAY on the fact!?!? No! I don't think so either. At leats one person was nice about it, they pointed out the fact that there was a typo, not that I am an imbecile! Constructive criticism…who would 'a thunk? Thank you to that person.
And if anyone has anything wrong with the fact that she walked 20 kilometres…then I don't care. Go tell your next door neighbours budgie for all I care. If that's all your gonna say if you review, then don't bloody bother reviewing. BUT, if you have something else to say, like CONSTRUCTIVE criticism for example, then please review.
Ta,
Bundi