AN: This was written for 'The-New-Take-On-Famous-Ish-Quotes' (is that what it's called? xD Meh!) by RandomEternally on HPFC. My quote was 'You place too much importance on the so-called purity of blood!'. Enjoy, and please review. :)
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy would belong to moi.
Draco was bleeding.
Quite badly, it had to be said. In fact, he was struggling to stem the flow of thick crimson liquid that poured gradually from his arm, seeping through his fingers and staining the pale skin. Swearing very loudly and very frequently – because it was quite painful, and he was beginning to feel faint – Draco began to search for something to stop the flow of blood, or at least slow it down.
'Malfoy?'
The horrified cry came from the doorway to the boys' bathroom. Draco looked up from his place near the sink, eyes wide in fear for who might see him like this.
'Granger?'
To say he was surprised was an understatement. Why was she even in the boys' bathroom?
'What the hell are you doing in the boys' bathroom?' Draco voiced the question on his mind, momentarily forgetting about his arm and the dreadful state it was in.
'I'm not in it – technically, I'm outside it,' Hermione said smugly. Draco couldn't help but glance at her feet, which were indeed just outside the threshold to the bathroom. Stupid Granger and her need to be right.
'Well then – what are you doing here? Can't you see I'm busy?' Draco snapped.
'I was just walking past – that isn't illegal for a Mudblood like me to do now, is it? – and I heard someone in here. You sounded – I mean, it sounded as if they were in pain.' She returned her wide brown eyes to his arm, then looked at his face again. 'And you obviously are.'
'I'm not in pain,' Draco insisted, turning his back on her. 'Get out of here now.'
'Out of where? I'm still not in the bathroom yet.' Scratch what he thought earlier. Stupid Granger and her need to be right all the time.
'You know what I mean,' the blonde growled. 'Leave. Now.'
Ignoring him, Hermione stepped gingerly into the bathroom. 'That looks nasty,' she observed.
'No?' Draco said sarcastically. 'It's like a picnic for me, really. Bleeding to death.'
'That needs to be treated properly,' Hermione told him, ignoring his comment again.
'So why are you just stood there then?' Draco retorted, without thinking. 'No – I didn't mean I wanted you to help me.'
Hermione didn't say anything, just raised her eyebrows at him.
'Not like you to be quiet, Granger,' Draco remarked, his hand still clutching his arm tightly. His head was beginning to spin, ever so slowly. He was losing too much blood. 'Don't you have somewhere to be? Go find Potty and Weasel King.'
'How did it happen?' Hermione asked, gesturing to his arm. Draco scowled at her.
'That's my business, not yours.'
Silence. It was beginning to get unnerving.
'I tripped and cut my arm on a piece of glass. Happy?' he said shortly, not looking at her.
'How did the mirror smash?' Hermione questioned, her eyes flicking from Draco to the ruined mirror that lay in shards on the floor.
Damn.
'It was already like that,' Draco lied. Oh God, his head was starting to spin even more…
'You need help, Draco,' Hermione said softly, speaking his first name. She stepped closer to him, approaching him slowly. Draco's first instinct was to back away, but he didn't.
'So get Madame Pomfrey.'
'I didn't mean your arm.'
She was still walking closer; Draco audibly gulped, looking anywhere but her.
'What's he making you do?' Her words were sad, soft, but demanding. Draco didn't need to ask who 'he' was.
'Nothing,' he said gruffly. 'I don't know what you're talking about.'
Without a word, without taking her gaze away from his face, Hermione slipped her wand out of her pocket and conjured up a bandage. She didn't wait for Draco's permission; just stepped up to him and began applying the bandage. He flinched when she touched him, and his heartbeat increased noticeably when her fingers brushed his arm tying the material on. Then so quickly she was done, and staring up at him again.
'I haven't forgotten,' she whispered.
Draco's eyes took on a cold, hard gleam. 'I have,' he said stiffly.
'Obviously not, otherwise you wouldn't know what I'm talking about.' Hermione smirked at him, her brown eyes shining with some of the old humour. The laughter that used to be.
'Is it because I'm a Mudblood?' she asked bluntly. Draco gulped.
'Yes, amongst other things,' he steeled himself to say. The words ripped at his heart, at every part of him, paining him as much as they were paining her.
'Liar,' Hermione whispered coldly.
'I'm not,' Draco said shakily – but he managed to keep eye contact. 'Granger, you're nothing more than a Mudblood to me. Nothing more.'
He'd said it. He'd said it, and God, it hurt. He wanted to die a very slow, very painful death as he watched her lips form a small 'O' shape and her eyes begin to shine with tears. It was all he deserved.
'N-no,' she stammered.
'I'm a Pureblood, and you're a Mudblood,' Draco stated, staring fixatedly at a tap in one of the sinks. 'Granger, that's all there is to it. I cared about you… once. But now… I've seen sense.'
'You place too much importance on the so-called purity of blood!' Hermione shouted, tears spilling over onto her cheeks. 'Are you honestly saying you don't care for me at all anymore? Because that's not what it looked like last week!'
'Last week was a mistake!' Draco yelled at her. Everything around him was going fuzzy… the amount of blood he'd lost…
'Were the whole four months we spent together a mistake as well?' Hermione asked softly. She didn't really need to, and both of them knew it. She took one look at his face, and had her answer confirmed.
'I'm done, Draco.' Her hand shook as she wiped the tears off her cheeks. 'I'm out.'
'Hermione, please. You don't understand. I've got to do this. I love you, but –' Draco wasn't even sure what he was saying now. His eyes were fixed on Hermione, who was now becoming nothing more than a blur in his vision…
'Don't say that!' Hermione screeched, sounding much more hysterical than she'd meant to sound. 'For four months you love me, then I'm not worth to lick the dirt off your shoes, and two minutes later you love me again? I don't get it, Draco! I don't get you! Do I mean something to you or not?' Before he could reply, she continued on, her hair frizzing up the more she ranted and her cheeks reddening. 'I can't deal with this! I don't know what to think! I don't know what you think of me anymore! Draco, for the first time in my life, I don't know anything!'
She was breathing heavily, looking like quite the madwoman. Draco stared at her, reaching a long-fingered hand out.
'Hermione… please don't go…'
'You can't make your mind up, can you? Well, here's me deciding for you!' Hermione swept up to Draco and left the briefest of kisses on his lips. 'I love you. And I hate myself for it.'
When Draco finally looked up, she was gone. He fell to his knees, unable to stand the dizziness that was overwhelming him and the crushed, defeated feeling settling over him like a taunting, black cloud. That was it. She was gone.
Hermione Granger was gone.
'Hermione,' Draco whispered, his voice cracked. 'P-please… don't l-leave me…'
And then the spinning that was starting to make him feel sick claimed him, and Draco Malfoy blacked out, knowing no more.