Time Is Useless
Chapter Two: When Words Get Me Down You Keep Me Up
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I never will!
Draco was mentally kicking himself all the way back to the Slytherin common room. He didn't mean to be such a jerk to Granger. In fact, he had wanted to comfort her. "Stop thinking that!" he told himself as he sprawled out on the couch. "You hate Granger. She's a mudblood. Why would you want to comfort her? She's a filthy, grimy, bitch."
"Dracoooo! Is that you? Why are you talking to yourself?" asked Pansy Parkinson as she sauntered into the common room and pushed Draco's legs off the couch so she could sit on his lap. Pansy was pretty yes, but she was rather annoying at times. For example, she rarely let Draco out of her sight and whenever they were together all she wanted to do was make out.
"What? Oh, just trying to do some homework. So how are you, baby?" Draco was hasty to change the subject. If he was lucky, he could pretend he had a headache and Pansy would be out of his sight.
"I'm good but…" Pansy trailed off as she played with Draco's hair. She often did this as she loved suspense while Draco found it to be a bit annoying.
"But what?" Draco asked with an edge to his voice. Pansy dropped her hands and slid off of his lap.
"You don't have to be so rude, you know. I was going to say that I'm running low on my daily dose of Draco." She stuck out her lower lip and tried to make it tremble but failed miserably. Draco knew what she was playing at. Pansy wanted to have another make out session that night. Draco, however, did not. He had other plans already and he needed to figure out how to pursue them. Not wanting to hurt Pansy too badly, he kissed her lightly on the nose and stood up.
"I miss you too, Pans. But I'm not feeling too well, I think I'm going to head up to the dormitories after dinner and get some rest. As for right now, I would love to spend more time with you but I need to get to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'll see you later, love." Draco took off without another word. With any luck, Granger would already be in the classroom and Draco would be able to explain himself.
Meanwhile in the Gryffindor common room...
"He's an ignorant arse, 'Mione. You can't let him get you down! Look, look at me." Hermione lifted up her tear streaked face to look at Ron. He was the only other person to know of her secret love for Harry other than Lavender and Parvati. Ron handed her a tissue and she blew her nose.
"Thank you, Ron. Really…it means a lot knowing that at least one person cares about my feelings." Another tear leaked down her face as she thought of what Harry would say if he saw her like this. He would definitely comfort her, maybe even hold her and let her cry on his shoulder. Just then the portrait hole to the common room swung open and Harry walked in carrying his backpack. He flung it down on one of the arm chairs and looked around for Ron and Hermione. He spotted them in the corner; Ron was repeatedly handing Hermione tissues. They had yet to spot Harry so he walked over to the both of them.
"Hey! What's-Hermione! Are you alright?" Harry was taken aback by her tears; Hermione never broke down like this. Ron abruptly, and very awkwardly, stood up.
"I'm going to er…to the bathroom. Be back…later." Ron hurriedly took off out of the portrait hole. Harry sat down next to Hermione, not knowing what to do.
"Want to talk about it?" He asked lightly. Hermione looked up at him and her brown eyes once again became a pool of tears.
"No, no! I didn't-I didn't mean to upset you! I want to help, here come up to my dormitory. We'll have more privacy." Harry took Hermione's hand and led her upstairs without knowing he was being watched by Ginny Weasley. Once they were upstairs Harry collapsed almost immediately on his bed. Harry smiled at the awkward Hermione standing in front of him.
"You can sit down you know." Hermione gave a small smile and sat down next to him.
"I'm uh, I'm sorry. I don't want to be a burden to you" she whispered so softly that Harry almost couldn't hear her. Hermione's tears had yet to stop so Harry pulled her into a sort of lying down hug. Hermione pressed her face into his chest and let her body-shaking sobs take over her. Harry rubbed his hand on her back whispering things like "it's okay" and "I'm here, you're safe" but Hermione almost seemed to cry more at that. Harry didn't know how long they had laid there for, it felt like hours, but in a good way. Harry never wanted to leave the position he was in and he wasn't sure why.
"Hey…'Mione?" He gently tapped one of her arms, which were wrapped around his neck while his were wrapped around her waist.
"Harry…" mumbled a groggy Hermione. She had fallen asleep in Harry's arms; just had he had fallen asleep in hers. Harry pulled away from her and studied her face. He smiled at how innocent she looked when she was asleep; it was like she didn't have any cares in the world.
"Hermione, I wish I didn't have to say this, but we've got to get up. We have Defense Against the Dark Arts now." Hermione opened her eyes and for a second Harry thought she was going to cry again.
"Do we have to? Can't we just stay here, like this? Forever?" Harry laughed, Hermione never wanted to miss classes! He wasn't quite sure about what had happened between them but he liked it. Hermione stood up and walked to the window where she could see her reflection. She began to fix her hair; it was a method that put him in a trance.
"Oh! It's not going to stay down. I wish my hair could be straighter. Like Ginny's." Harry's heart stopped as he remembered the night before. He wished it hadn't happened; he didn't want to lead Ginny on when he loved a different girl.
"I love your hair like that, Hermione. It's beautiful. Like you." Harry didn't mean to say it; it just sort of slipped out. Now Hermione would definitely know that he's been in love with her since his first year. It was a secret that nobody knew, not even Ron. Hermione turned around to face him.
"You…you think I'm beautiful? Me? I'm Hermione, remember?" Surely he meant Ginny was beautiful. Maybe he's still partially asleep and sees me as Ginny, thought Hermione.
"Yes, I think you're beautiful. Hermione Jean Granger, you are beautiful. And…and-I love you. There, I said it. I've been in love with you since our first year. I know that this is really sudden and unexpected but being with you today made me realize that you have a right to know. I want to always be there for you and I want to protect you. Only if you want me to of course." Harry added the last part very quickly in case Hermione didn't feel the same way. Hermione became teary eyed again as she ran to hug him.
"Harry, I love you too!" Hermione did something she never, in a million years, saw herself doing. She kissed Harry right on the lips. Harry was shocked at her enthusiasm, almost as if she had been waiting five years to do this. Harry kissed her back and almost knocked over the lamp on his nightstand in doing so. Hermione pulled away from him and smiled at his clumsiness.
"Come on, we need to get to class. I can't miss another today!" Harry and Hermione took off for class, hand in hand.