Hermione looked up to meet his chilling grey eyes again, staring at her. Hermione just rolled her eyes and looked back at Ron who gave her his cute lopsided grin. Grinning back at her best friend, she looked down at the piece of parchment on the table which she was not concentrating on at all.
Why don't you open up your eyes?
These are more than passing glances.
Why don't you say what's on your mind?
Cause I'm taking all the chances.
Draco Malfoy walked down the corridor with a task at hand. To find Granger. To reveal his deepest secret to her, to expose a little bit of sensitivity to her. It was against everything he had grown up to believe in, but he needed to let her know. Sneering at a group of frightened first years, he walked to the library looking like a man with a great purpose.
"Granger," came the cold voice. Hermione lifted her head to see Draco sitting across from her. Her wild caramel brown curls bounced on her shoulders and her auburn eyes widened in shock, then narrowed as she grimaced.
"Malfoy," she replied, and went back to writing her essay due in three weeks. As she dipped her quill in the ink, a pale hand on her parchment distracted her. She looked up to meet his eyes again.
"Granger, we need to talk," he growled lowly, and she sighed and replaced her quill.
"Fine, but make it quick," she muttered reluctantly. Draco grabbed her wrist as Hermione glared at him and tried yanking it back, but his hold was strong. He yanked her wrist towards him, Hermione nearly falling onto the ink, but caught herself with her arm slamming on the table. She winced, but Draco's gaze never wavered. Their faces were millimeters apart.
"Granger, I need to tell you something. In private." Hermione scoffed.
"I'm sure you can tell me-" His hand that had been gripping tightly on her wrist moments before was now dragging her into a more secluded part of the library. In silence they went, Hermione severely trying to pull away while Malfoy dragged her alone, barely noticing her attempts to free herself. Finally, they were in the back of the library, right where the Restricted Section began and no student dared to go.
"Granger." Hermione whipped her head around to glare at him. Then her features softened when she saw his guard come down. He looked a bit hesitant. Clearing his throat, he continued. "Granger, I…I think I've fallen in love with you," he whispered almost incoherently, but Hermione caught it. And she could barely believe her ears.
"Excuse me?!" she cried in disbelief. Draco rolled his eyes.
"You heard right with those two ears of yours. I've…fallen in love with you." He murmured the last part softly again, and Hermione suddenly glared.
"Do you think me a fool?!" she lashed out and poked him in the chest, surprising him. "How can I believe anything you say? For six years you've taunted my friends and I incessantly! How can I believe you now?" She turned on her heel, her hair flying behind her as she stormed out of the library.
"Hermione, I mean what I say. I swear it," he called after her, then he leaned on the bookshelf and sighed.
If I'm not everything you wanted,
If I'm not everything you need,
Then you can walk right out the door,
And you can walk right out on me,
But you're never gonna see just how good it's gonna be until you give me a chance,
Gimme a chance, oh.
Draco glared in immense jealousy as he watched Hermione flirt unabashedly with Ron, then Seamus. 'She's dragging them along,' he thought bitterly. After she had walked out on him in the library, she continued to sneak glances at him and flaunt herself at boys, as if to make him jealous.
'I already want her, what more does that little prude want?' he thought with a low growl.
"You alright, mate?" Blaise asked with concern.
"Yeah, you seem a bit distant," Theo added.
"I'm alright mates, thanks," he said in a low voice, obviously upset.
"If you want her, go get her," Pansy said with a flick of her hair, and she continued to eat. The three boys looked at her in surprise. Pansy, catching their surprised glances, looked up.
"I'm not daft, you know. I can tell when anyone likes another of the opposite sex," she said with a sniff. Draco looked back at Hermione who continued to ignore him and laughed at a joke Seamus must have pulled.
Moments later, after lunch, he walked out the Great Hall and heard crying. He curiously looked behind the stone gargoyle and saw the great bookworm herself sobbing her eyes out. 'Probably over some no good bloke,' Draco sighed to himself. How he wished he could show her a true man; himself.
What do you see in all these guys?
Don't you know they're just pretending?
Somehow you always seem surprised
That it's not a happy ending.
Don't you want a happy ending?
"Malfoy," a voice said softly in the empty corridor. It had been three weeks of unbearably watching Hermione continue to ignore him and flirt with more boys than before. He turned to see the great bookworm, frizzy-haired genius looking up at him, her eyes tender and warm. He felt his heart leap.
"What is it," he asked, his voice masking his inner thoughts.
"I thought about what you said, falling in love with me that is, and…well, I've decided. I'll give you a chance." Amber met grey, and before he could get control of himself, Draco had wrapped his arms around her, making her feel warm and happy inside.
"Thank you," he murmured into her ear, and Hermione giggled.
"You better make it worth my time," she whispered playfully to him.
"Oh don't worry, I will," he said with a chuckle, and held her tighter.
Just gimme a chance,
Gimme a chance, oh.
