It had been nearly a year since I had last talked to Ron. There are several reasons why, the biggest being that last year, he broke up with me. I tried to remain friends with him, but it deemed near impossible. He apparantly never wanted to speak to me again. Although I do admit that I could have tried harder to fix our friendship, I just really stopped caring. Why be friends with an ignorant prat like him?
Me and Harry had drifted apart, seeing as his best friend was Ron. We still made efforts to talk to each other, but it just wasn't the same. So, as usual back then, I was eating alone, while reading a book. When I glanced up to see if any more mashed potatoes were left, standing there was Draco Malfoy.
"Is Mudblood Granger all alone? Looks like potty and weasel over there don't care about her anymore." Crabbe and Goyle made a rather unpleasant noise that could have been a laugh.
"Shut up Malfoy! The only friends you have are nasty trolls!" Malfoy feigned surprise.
"Granger, what makes you say such a thing, I have plenty of friends, unlike you. As you can see, being Pureblood has its advantages."
"Why don't you just shut up Malfoy, you're a stuck up prissy little BITCH." I don't know what had come over me, when I screamed the last word. I just had so much on my shoulders, I couldn't take it anymore.
With Professor Mcgonagall so close by, I'm surprised she didn't hear. Possibly because the hall was so loud. Even though Mcgonagall didn't hear, Malfoy sure did. A coldness I had never seen before swept through his eyes and he leaned over to whisper something in my ear.
Equally as mad as him, I stood my ground and simply nodded.
"Remember Granger, don't get caught in the hallways."
He had just challanged me to a duel. In the halls. At night. Past lights out. And I had accepted.
What had I done? I immediately started worrying. I couldn't back out now. That would just show Malfoy what a goody-two-shoes I am. No, I had to do it.
As soon as I finished eating, I practically ran back to the common room. It was empty, so in a flurry, I got out my stack of books, pens, and papers. If I was to do this, I needed to finish tomorrows work as well. Plus, working always helps take my mind off of things. Books all around me, I got to work. While finishing one of Professor Flitwick's essays, I started to lose focus.
I was thinking about how rude and obnoxious Malfoy was, when I was shook from my thoughts, by Harry.
"Hermionie, its nine-thirty. Aren't you going to bed soon?"
"Oh um.. nine-thirty you say? Maybe I'll stay up just a little longer. Good-Night."
"Night Hermionie."
Wow. I hadn't realized how late it was. I had already completed most of my work, so I decided to call it a night. I set an alarm for eleven-forty and fell asleep the moment I laid my head on the pillow. When I woke up, I quickly shut off the alarm, not wanting anyone else to wake up. I hastily threw on some clothes,
then waited by the fire, wondering if this was such a good idea after all.
When it started nearing 12, I headed out towards the trophy room, where we had planned to meet. I felt vulnerable because last time Malfoy had brought along his two bodyguards, and I had no-one. Hoping and praying I wouldn't meet Filch or his cat, I snuck around the corridors watching and listening for signs of anyone other than me in the halls.
As I entered the trophy room, realization fell upon me, if Draco was in the trophy room, surely I would have at least heard him. Right? I peeked into the room just to be sure. No sign of Malfoy. Maybe he was late or something. I waited around for awhile, when I heard footsteps rapidly approaching. I ducked behind a trophy case, peeking out through a little crack in-between the two shelves. There he was, Malfoy! I would have expected him to have Crabbe and Goyle beside him, but he was here alone. Why would he be here alone?
I stepped out from the shelf and when he turned around, he didn't have his wand. What was going on? Utterly confused, I asked him:
"Where's your wand?"
"I didn't bring it." He was blushing.
"Why? What's going on?"
"Err.. Granger. I wanted to talk to you."
"Then why didn't you do so earlier?" I was so irritated, I didn't notice how uncomfortable Malfoy was acting.
He quickly mumbled his response, looking down at the floor.
"I SAID WHAT DO YOU WANT!"
"Quiet Granger!"
"DON'T YOU TELL ME TO QUIET DOWN. I SAID WHAT DO YOU WANT!"
"SHUT UP GRANGER BEFORE YOU GET US INTO TROUBLE!"
"NO! WHY DON'T YOU! DO YOU WANT ME TO PUNCH YOU AGAIN FERRET?!"
"HERMIONIE! SHUT UP!"
He ran over to me and put his hand over my mouth. I quickly slapped it away, and yelled at the top of my lungs.
"DRACO WILL YOU STOP! TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON, RIGHT NOW!"
That was when we heard the footsteps. It was Filch! I quickly started to panic. 'The shelves!' I thought to myslef. Then as if in slow motion, Draco pulled me behind a shelf. It was a tight fit and still slightly angery at him shoved him so I could have more space. In return, he shoved me, almost out into the room.
We both heard Filch scattered around the room looking everywhere, for the students breaking curfew. My heart racing, I tried to signal to Malfoy to run to another shelf. Filch was getting closer and closer.
Draco grabbed my hand and yanked me behind a shelf Filch had already checked. He forgot to let go of my hand, but I didn't really care seeing as my heart was about to jump out of my chest. I sat down, Draco doing the same. Filch had sat down in the middle of the room having checked behind every shelf. It didn't look like he was leaving soon.
"I know you're in here, and you have to come out sometime." He called out.
I shivered, so cold in the trophy room, with all that metal everywhere. Draco whispered in my ear asking what to do. I told him that we could either come out, or try waiting for morning.
"No offence Granger, but I don't think we should come out, word might spread and I, for one, don't want people thinking I like you."
I agreed. What would people think, hearing me and Draco had been alone in the trophy room, late at night? No thank you. I rested my head on my hand and stretched out a little bit. I sighed and tried to fall alseep.
I woke up on Draco's chest, and it was still night. Maybe around four A.M. I looked out from behind the shelf to see Filch, sitting in the chair wide awake. This guy would do anything to see children getting punished. I realized that Draco must've pulled me close when I was asleep. I didn't know how I felt about that, but I smiled at the look on his sleeping face. It was the goofiest smile I had ever seen, and his hair wasn't slicked back, it was nice and messy.
I liked it. I liked him. I really did like him.
Confused on my thoughts, I just decided to act upon them, while he was sleeping. I intertwined my hand with his, brushed up close to him and went to sleep.
Soon, I awoke again. Daylight filtered through the room, and when I looked out Filch was gone. I shoved Draco until he woke up.
"Draco! Get up, we need to get out of here!"
He mumbled in his sleep. It kinda sounded like 'wanna go out with me' I shook myself mentally. No, that couldn't be it. Must've been something else. Finally Draco woke up, and sleepily smiled at me.
"You slept with me Hermionie. I always knew you liked me."
I can't believe he just said that. I blushed, hard. My cheeks were bright red. He looked shocked at what he just said, and blushed too.
"Err.. Granger." He cleared his throat.
"Malfoy?"
"Is Filch gone?"
"Yes."
"Well... Uh.. Granger, I never got to talk to you last night."
"Yes. Well err.. What is it?"
"I was just thinking, that we shouldn't fight so much. I want to try being friends."
"Why? I thought you hated Mudbloods?"
"Oh.. Well... Um.."
He seemed to be at a loss for words, and I didn't know what to do. I was stunned that he wanted to be my friend.
"I just thought.. You know, since Weasley decided to leave you and all. I thought you might like a friend."
I just smiled at him. Stupidly, I couldn't think what to say. The thought of him liking me was insane, and I couldn't believe it. I was so happy, maybe he even liked me back!
He was blushing again and we both decided to get up at the same time, bumping into each other.
We both muttered a shy 'sorry', and went back to our common rooms.
