A.N. - House: Gryffindor, Category: Drabble, Prompt: "I didn't mean that!", Word Count: 470
Filthy little Mudblood
The words echo again and again through her mind. Hermione rubs a hand across her cheek, wiping away the wet streak of a tear.
Angry with herself for crying over such a trivial event, she hurries down the hall, making her way back to her room. It shouldn't hurt like this; as if someone is squeezing her heart inside her chest. She should have expected it. It wasn't as though she didn't know the prejudiced views about people like her. They think she's dirty, impure, that she doesn't deserve to have the power she holds.
But she thought he was different. They had been put together for a class assignment and met a few times with no one else around. He acted like she was a person; not once did he tease her about being a know-it-all, bookworm, a muggle-born. She thought she was so clever to see who was behind the Malfoy everyone knew. How stupid she was to believe he isn't that bully, that cockroach he is with friends, with a reputation to uphold.
They had some nice conversations, and, she thought, perhaps they could be friends. Boy, was she wrong. He used that word; the word that says she's not good enough to associate with such superior beings. She resents that word.
"Granger, we need to talk."
She hears his voice, low and quiet beside her and jumps, not expecting his sudden appearance.
"We've got nothing to talk about," she replies in a near whisper.
"Please, go to the astronomy tower, where we can talk alone," he pleads.
Hermione takes a deep breath, but before she can say anything more, he is striding away with that annoyingly confident strut. She rolls her eyes. What could he possibly want to say now?
Against her better judgement, she decides to follow him, subtly of course, up to the tower.
"You used the word," she accuses at first sight of Draco Malfoy alone.
"I know," he admits. "But you weren't very nice either."
"It was a fair suspicion."
"You accused my father of bribing the team to make me seeker! In front of everyone! And it was wrong!"
"You called me that name . . . in front of my friends. You called me dirty and inferior, and unworthy of my magic. I didn't think you'd do that," she says, hurt.
"I didn't mean that!" he argues.
"But you said it!"
"I know. They were expecting me to say it," Malfoy says, as if it excuses his behaviour.
"So this was all for a reputation?" Hermione fights to hold back more tears. "Then I was wrong about you. I thought you different than they say. I thought we could be friends."
She's had enough. Hermione races down the stairs, ignoring Malfoy's plea for her to come back.