Chapter 1
Too Much
Why did you push me away, when all I wanted to do was help?
Hermione Granger stepped slowly into the crisp white snow one chilly winter evening looking through the windows of Zonkos the joke shop in Hogsmeade.
"Hey, Hermione, are you doing Christmas shopping too?" Ron Weasley, a red haired, tall freckled boy asked her cheerfully, bright colored bags swinging from his arms, full of gifts and presents.
"Hmm, oh not really. I'm just sort of wandering." She answered glumly, staring at the indented footprints in the snow.
"Is something wrong? I heard from a bunch of girls from your room talking about you. They said something like you broke up with this unbelievably hot blonde boy, but I didn't stay around long enough to listen if he was from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Gryffindor." Ron finished quickly digging through one his red gift bags.
"What's wrong with Slytherin, they're not all bad you know." Hermione snapped a bit too suddenly to her best friend. "Where's Harry anyway?" she scowled at the sky.
"He's in Honeydukes buying some Acid Pops to give to Dudley. Why?" Ron replied sadly, surprised to be answered so harshly by the usually kind and sweet hearted Hermione.
"Oh, ok. Well, I'll see you around, have a good Christmas." Hermione said faking a cheerful mood. She saw him wave, clearly disappointed by the turn of events.
Hermione rushed off to find Harry; she opened the door, and was thrown into a crowd of chattering 6th year students all from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. She stopped, dead in her tracks, there he was, Draco Malfoy, standing in front of the cash register, handing the cashier a couple of galleons for some bags of chocolate frogs. And there was Harry, the one she was searching for…right behind Draco.
Bloody hell, my day is getting worse then ever! She thought rapidly. She made her way through the groups of people and finally arrived beside Harry, making sure Draco was not aware of her presence.
"Hermione! How are you…?"
"Shhhhh!" Hermione hissed.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked curiously, his dark brown hair flopping over his round glasses.
Hermione grabbed the sleeve of his sweatshirt and yanked him down the steps to the cellar of the store, where it was abnormally quiet for a store filled with so many people on the top floor.
"We need to talk about something." Hermione said finally, inhaling a deep breath, her voice dead serious, and a pierce in her gaze.
"What's going on Mione'? Harry asked, now worried about Hermione's appearance, her normally straightened chestnut brown hair was just as curly and messy as if she hadn't slept in days as it had been in their 1st year at Hogwarts.
"It's about Draco Malfoy…" she tried to continue her explanation but Harry had interrupted her jumping to stupid conclusions that only he and Ron would cook up about Malfoy.
"Has he been doing anything to you? I bet he finally paid you back for that punch you gave him in 3rd year, what did he do to you? You don't have any bruises…"
"That's because the bruises are in here." Hermione said quietly indicating her heart. Tears began to well up into her eyes; she couldn't hide it anymore. Harry took hold of her shoulders and shook her gently.
"Come on Hermione, this isn't like you. I promise I won't interrupt this time, now tell me what's going on about…Malfoy." Harry sighed.
"Well, you didn't know this, and neither Ron, but nearly two months ago, Draco and I had befriended one another, we talked together, ate together too but of course in secrecy, Hogwarts would be a riot if they had figured out that a Slytherin and Gryffindor had become friends or a sort. We could even share our feelings and opinions of almost everything, until that terrible day had come." Hermione stopped she sat down on the cold wooden floor, and breathed in and out, distressed as it seemed.
"So you guys had become friends. Go on." Harry said; his eyes interested yet subtle over this subject.
"Well, we then became even closer, sometimes you know, kissing,"
"Snogging." Harry corrected her; she rolled her eyes, and continued,
"And of course we kissed while no one was looking, we'd walk around our fingers entwined with one another's, and when we talked it would be full of compassion and understanding, more security, but then one day," Hermione groaned in desperate need of comfort but Harry didn't budge he still leaned against a crate of candy, "Somebody saw us…while we were kissing, Pansy Parkinson, she flew into a fit of rage and tore down the Great Hall using the most ignorant language I've ever heard, I could hear her say that she'd threaten to blab to Draco's father unless…well I didn't hear what she said after that, then she just continued cursing all way until we couldn't see her. She had probably run to her common room to sob, everybody knows she fancies Draco, and has for the utmost time." Hermione said inhaling another breathe before continuing.
"Then Draco began cursing his bit of course because Pansy would most definitely use the sight she had just seen as a weapon against us, so I tried to tell him that things would be fine. Usually things like this never happed to us when we were a couple. But he only pushed me away, and then would stalk off to his dormitory, to think I imagine, or possibly to curse some more. And now, I'm feeling this odd sensation like, my life is over and that I'll never survive or get through my life without him because, Harry, he's part of me, not just part of my life but an actual part of me, my heart, my soul, my life! Sometimes I feel like stabbing myself to death, life is just getting so complicated and confusing, can't death just end it all?" Hermione snapped angrily, tears pouring out of her eyes, standing up to bend her head low to the ground, her eyes flooding with tears. Harry brushed some of her hair behind her ear and stood up in front of her, so close their noses almost collided.
"Hermione, death isn't going to end it all, it will only worsen it, and you would only fall into another pit of troubles. Think Hermione, if Draco doesn't listen to you this last time; you need to forget about him. He was never meant to have a long lasting relationship, with that temper of his." Harry said solemnly looking away as he said those last words, his eyes dull and serious, and the sound of his voice cold yet encouraging. Hermione looked up, her tear stained face was red and blotchy, and she wiped her cheeks, and then nodded but she knew already, Harry didn't know the real Draco Malfoy the kind and generous soul within him. Harry left her to think, he walked up the steps back the noisy Honeydukes filled with customers. But Hermione stood, her tears never fell again, a frown didn't come, nor a smile, she just stood, lost in her despair, and problems of her own. It was time; time to tell Draco that what's going on has to stop…