HERMIONE'S P.O.V.
"I'm not sure…" Ron started unsure of his answer but then he had caught on and started spilling out his answer. "I saw it, when I saw you" He said this while pointing at me. "And you… Malfoy"
(A/N: DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? HE MEANT THAT HE SAW SOMETHING LIKE A BLAST FROM THE PAST, EXCEPT THIS WAS JUST A COUPLE OF MINUTES AGO, WHEN HE SAW HERMIONE AND DRACO)
"What?" Draco, Hermione, Pansy, Blaise, Ginny and Harry asked at the same time.
"I saw it…" He said now again unsure of his answer.
"You mean like a dream?" Hermione asked her very confused looking friend.
"Whatever, can we move on now?" Ginny asked impatiently.
"Yeah…" Hermione replied.
"So, where were we?" Pansy asked now starting to walk to the Christmas tree.
"We were going to the part where St. Potter over here starts beating me up for something I didn't do…" Draco said also heading to the tree.
"HEY!" Harry yelled at Draco from the farthest side of the room from the three Slytherins.
"Draco…" Hermione started not looking at his face. "Please don't start"
"What do you care anymore?" Draco snapped back at her.
This definitely got Hermione to look up at him. But, like before, he was looking at her like she was nothing to him. She couldn't stand him when he looked at her like that, like he thought of her as a Mudblood again.
"What? Trouble in paradise?" Ron said insultingly.
"What do you care Weasel? You've got Lavender Brown anyway… Or have you two broken up? 'Coz it wouldn't be such a surprise, now would it?" Blaise answered for Draco.
The three Slytherins were now face to face with the three Gryffindors. Hermione, not knowing where to go, stayed in the middle of all things.
"Look, guys we don't need to…" Hermione started but was cut by Harry and Ron.
"Stay out of this!" Harry yelled at her coldly.
"Shut up!" Ron yelled not taking his eyes off of Blaise.
Obviously that comment about him and Lavender had gotten to him.
"Fine, I'll 'stay out' of this!" She screamed at the top of her lungs as the six of them started yelling at each other. "You know what? Why don't I stay out of all of your lives?"
Hermione started to go up the flight of stairs to her room until…
"Fine with us!" Draco yelled as the room went silent.
"Draco…" She heard Pansy whisper.
"Fine" Hermione whispered to the lot as she pulled something out of her jeans' back pocket. "Here!" she said as she threw what she was looking for to Draco. "Merry Christmas!" She yelled as he caught the box and letter that she threw then she ran up the rest of the stairs and up to her room.
Hermione had locked the door and practically dived on her bed. She had started balling her eyes out in her room and hadn't stopped until the sun started rising over the cold December air.
DRACO'S P.O.V.
Draco had been able to catch what Hermione threw. It was a box and a letter that was tied to it. Draco didn't really mean to tell her that he didn't want her anymore, it was like someone Draco didn't know took over his body and he was the one who yelled at Hermione, the Hermione that he had finally been able to kiss that very same day. The exact same Hermione that Draco had finally admitted to having feelings for.
"You know what?" He heard someone say as he was deep into thought.
He turned around to see Potter trying to talk to him.
"What? That you guys are idiots? Yeah, I think we knew that for quite sometime now " Blaise said not taking his eyes off of Weasley.
"Enough!" Ginny yelled trying to get passed Pansy to go after Hermione, but she was just too big and too quick for her. "Will you please let me through?"
"She won't talk to you" Draco said just like Blaise, not taking his eyes off of Harry.
"And why won't she talk to us?" Ron said breaking the cold glare Blaise was giving him.
"'Coz you haven't for about two months" Pansy said acidly as she pushed Ginny back to the side of her brother.
"Hey, it wasn't our fault that the rest of the Gryffindors didn't want to talk to her" Ginny said defensively.
"Excuse me?" Pansy started as pushed Ginny once more. "But, if you haven't noticed for the past two months, all you've been doing is talking about her behind her back and convincing people that she's dating a Slytherin…"
Ginny stopped trying to get passed Pansy to look at her like she didn't know what the heck Pansy was talking about.
"Don't give me that look Weasley! I heard you one afternoon talking to Loony Lovegood… Yeah, maybe next time when you're talking smack about someone you should try whispering" Pansy said, in which after this Ginny tried even harder to get passed Pansy.
But Pansy being the older and stronger one just shoved the young red head.
"Please!" Ginny yelled as she ended up beside Ron again. "I just wanna talk to my best friend!"
"Best friend? You call yourself a best friend?" Draco asked looking away from Potter to look at the youngest of the Weasleys. "Who was the one who called her names all those times in the Great Hall? Huh?"
"Who was the person who told Seamus and Dean to 'accidentally push' Hermione so that all of her books would fall down the staircase?" Blaise chimed in.
"Who was the one who told Madame Hooch that Hermione was the one who set the Bludgers in the Divination Tower that ruined all the crystal balls?" Pansy said as the three Slytherins stood their ground and made their point.
"Who was the one who told Harry and Ron to sabotage Hermione's potions in class?" Draco asked crossing his arms across his chest.
"Fine!" Ginny screamed as she had enough, she started tearing up as well. "I've been a bad friend and I know it, okay? I regret doing all of those things to her… Are you happy?!"
"You only regret doing those things because of what Hermione bought you lot… If it weren't for those Lightning Bolts you wouldn't be here now would you?" Malfoy said stating a fact.
"Look, everyone makes mistakes… And Ginny's learned that now… Would you please just let her comfort her friend?" Potter chimed in trying to get his girl to Hermione.
"No…" That was all Draco said.
"And why not?" Weasley asked stepping up to meet Blaise. They were now really face-to-face as they were both about the same height.
"Because she needs some time to be alone" Draco said glaring at Potter and his scar.
There was another one of those awkward silences that fell that night.
"Why don't we play a game?" Ginny said all of a sudden, obviously her tears were gone.
"Gin, I think this is the absolute worst time to play a game…" Harry whispered into his girlfriend's ear.
"No, no it's not… 'Coz you see, this game will prove how much this lot actually don't know Hermione…" Ginny said pulling away from her boyfriend.
"You're on Weasley…" Malfoy said that caused Pansy and Blaise to stare at him.
This is going to be easy… They don't even know half of Hermione, she even said so, and she's just there for them when they need some intellect…
"Let's make this 'game' a little more interesting…" Harry started. "Whoever wins can keep Hermione, and those who lose should get the hell away from her… Deal?"
Harry said this as he stuck out his own hand.
"Hermione's not some sort of thing that you can just keep… She has a mind, a really powerful mind, and she can make her own choices of whom she wants to hang out with…" Draco said as he looked at Harry's hand with disgust.
"Fine! Whoever wins, gets to stay with Hermione, but those who lose shouldstay the hell away from Hermione… I think that sounds better…" Ginny said as to clean up her boyfriend's stupid use of words.
"Yeah, that does sound better…" Pansy said still not moving from her spot to guard the staircase.
Harry and Draco shook hands and Ginny continued from then on, "So, we all write questions that we think the other group doesn't know about Hermione… Got it?"
They all nodded and headed for the opposite sides of the room. They conjured up quills, ink and rolls of parchment and started writing.
Once the Slytherins were all done, Draco got up and the Gryffindors followed suit.
"So, who goes first?" Harry asked.
"Heads or tails?" Blaise suggested.
"Hold on, I've got a couple of galleons in my pocket…" Draco said reaching in his pocket for a galleon. "Here" He said as he handed a galleon to Blaise.
"We call heads!" Pansy squealed from behind Draco, as he and Harry were probably just two feet apart.
"Fine, we get tails…" Ron said from behind Harry.
Blaise flipped the coin and made it land on the floor. It did a couple of flips in the air then fell. They all seemed to lean forward at the exact same time to peer over the galleon.
"Tails!" Harry and Ron yelled at the same time and high – fived each other.
"Okay, so you ask us the questions first, then we go next, okay?" Ginny said as if she served as the unofficial game host.
"Okay, we have 20 questions ready for you, is that okay?" Blaise asked this unofficial host.
"Hell yeah! Bring it on!" Ron yelled.
"No, what I meant was, d'you think that y'all can take that much questions?" Blaise said sarcastically.
"Haha…" Ginny replied just as sarcastic as Blaise. "Get on with the questions!"
"First question then… What is Hermione's favorite shade of green?" Draco asked since he had the parchment.
Harry, Ron and Ginny all looked at each other questioningly.
"Apple green?" Ginny answered as unsure as ever.
"WRONG!" The Slytherins yelled at the same time.
"Her favorite shade of green is dark green, as dark as the grass gets…" Pansy said proud of herself.
"Next question, what age did Hermione get her own credit card?" Blaise asked the group of Gryffindors.
"She has a credit card? How are we sure that you're telling the truth?" Ginny asked getting suspicious.
"You can give us veritaserum if you want…" Draco said. "As a matter of fact, I have some upstairs… Want me to go get it?"
"No!" Ginny yelled before Draco actually did get the veritaserum.
"So… What's your answer?" Pansy asked moving on with the game.
"Uhmm… Thirteen?" Ron tried this time, but…
"WRONG!" The three Slytherins screamed once more.
"She got one when she was ten…" Draco answered their own question.
"Next question! Why is Hermione's second name Jane?" Pansy asked this time.
"Because her parents chose to…" Harry said sounding defeated.
"No… It was because her mom loved Tarzan" Draco started and then almost stopped mid – sentence. "And she wanted her Hermione to have a Tarzan to save her one day…" He said the rest while looking down and he thought of something, he couldn't believe it, he wanted to be that Tarzan.
Draco wanted to be the guy who would swing down to save his Jane. His Jane would've been Hermione, if it weren't for his big and stupid mouth.
"Okay, so, that's three for us and none for you…" Pansy said so proud of herself.
"Well, just get on with it!" Ginny yelled to her worst enemy.
"Fine, why didn't Hermione tell the teachers all the sucky stuff that you guys did to her?" Pansy asked as Draco gave her the piece of parchment.
The three Gryffindors looked at one another then Ron was the one who stepped up to the plate to try to answer the question.
"Because she didn't want the professors to think that she was weak"
"Wrong…" Draco muttered under his breath as he rubbed his temples. He was starting to get a really bad headache from all the events surrounding him, especially this stupid game.
"It was because she didn't want any of you to get into trouble…" Blaise answered as he started pointing to them.
"And because she wanted you guys to be happy, and if you were all happy doing that to her… Then, why would she stop you, right?" Draco continued as he stopped rubbing his temples.
Harry, Ron and Ginny started looking at each other. Draco knew what they were thinking.
"Look, we never really wanted to hurt Hermione…" Ron started in defense.
"Yeah, and I never really wanted to give Gryffindors gifts…" Draco said trying to copy the stupidity in Ron's voice.
"Just give us the next question!" Ginny yelled before anyone started yelling.
"Fine, what did Hermione do this past summer?" Pansy asked once again as she had the list of questions with her.
"Easy! She started reading her books for her last year at Hogwarts…" Ginny said looking sure of her answer.
"That's what she told you, but… She actually went to Romania with her parents to see all the dragons there… I think she even saw your brother there… Old what's his name…" Blaise drifted as he tried thinking of the name of Ron's brother.
"Charlie?" Ron asked raising his eyebrow.
"Yeah! That's the name!" Blaise said as he clapped his hands together as he finally found out the name of Ron's brother.
"You're all lying… Hermione would have told us about that if she did actually go to Romania…" Ginny said whispering to the group.
"Fine, you don't believe us?" Draco said fuming as he made his way up to his room to get the veritaserum.
He ran as fast he could to get it but stopped at the landing of the staircase. He pressed his ear against the door to Hermione's room and heard her crying her eyes out, but he knew that there were 5 people downstairs waiting for him so he decided that he could talk to her later that morning. So, he went to his room, got the vile of veritaserum and ran down the steps.
"Here's to all of you…" He said as he downed the contents of the vile down his throat. When he was done, he told the group to ask him if all the questions he was asking them true.
"Fine, are all the questions in your list for this game all true?" Harry said looking bored.
"Yes" Draco said simply.
"How do we know that the potion that you just drank was veritaserum?" Ginny asked looking suspicious.
"Ask me any question that I wouldn't normally answer…"
"Okay, what do you think of Harry right now?" Ron asked.
"A fucking, ruddy pumpkin head…" Draco answered.
"You'd answer that easy… What do you think of Ginny?" Harry asked.
"A stupid, selfish and self – centered bitch…" Draco answered.
The response to this last answer was not taken lightly. Oh no, Ginny had tried to get at him, but thank Merlin that Harry and Ron were very athletic or the young Weasley would have tried to tear his eyes out of their sockets.
"Fine, if you really did drink veritaserum, answer this… Was your dad a Death Eater and does he know where Voldemort is?" Harry asked as Ginny had finally given up trying to get at Malfoy.
Draco had not wanted to answer this question, but of course he took veritaserum.
"Yes, my dad is a Death Eater and yes he knows where Voldemort is…" Draco answered looking down at the ground.
Harry looked at his left and at his right. Ginny and Ron had their mouths hanging open.
"Are you happy now?" Draco asked as he turned his back on the Gryffindors and turned to Blaise and Pansy.
The two Slytherins had also had their mouths hanging open.
"Why'd you tell them dude?" Blaise whispered to Draco.
"It's not like he can stop it Zabini!" Pansy squealed to her boyfriend.
"Okay… Enough of this! Give us the next questions you snakes!" Ginny screamed as Pansy and Blaise started screaming at each other as well.
"Who has the list?" Draco asked, as he wanted to read the next question.
"Here, sorry…" Pansy said as she gave him the roll of parchment.
Draco dipped his quill in ink as he crossed out the questions that they were done with already.
"What did she buy herself for her seventeenth birthday?" Draco asked as he read from the parchment.
"Do you guys know?" Ron asked the other two Gryffindors. "Because I have absolutely no idea…"
They both shook their heads so Ron tried to answer the question himself.
"I'm guessing a whole lot of books…"
"Nope…" Blaise said as he started shaking his head.
"She got herself a fight…" Pansy said as she too started shaking her head.
"With you lot…" Draco finished for the initial two incomplete sentences.
Harry, Ron and Ginny all looked at everything in the diminutive Common Room with the exception of the three Slytherins.
Draco thought for a while, and then he had come to realize something.
If we win and dad found out about Hermione and me, he'd try as much as possible to break us up or worse… He'd try to kill her… I know dad, he'd never pass up the chance to kill a muggle born… Especially since Hermione's one of Harry's closest friends…
"You know what?" Draco started getting back the full concentration of the very sore looking Gryffindors. "You win…" Draco had said this last part as he threw his hands in the air as an indication of defeat.
"What?" Ron asked as his gaze settled on Malfoy yet again.
"Yeah, I agree with Draco… You guys take her… You win…" Blaise said, as he had completely known what Draco had been talking about.
"WHY?!" Pansy, Harry, Ron and Ginny asked, well more of screamed, the two Slytherins.
"You guys should know by now…" Draco said turning his back yet again to the lot. Draco looked at his watch and saw that it was about to be three o clock in the morning. "You guys should be heading off too… I have rounds early tomorrow…"
(A/N: I know it's impossible for it to be three in the morning that quick, but heck! It's my story! Hehehe… Enjoy! D)
"Sure, but you have to tell us why you'd just want to give her to us just like that…" Harry said as Malfoy slowly turned back to look at them.
"Because I've spent my time with her… It's time to go back to the old ways… Whether we like it or not… That's how life is…" Draco said as he was still looking at the ground.
The Gryffindors nodded and turned back to head off, but Harry had stopped them right before stepping back onto the corridor.
"Malfoy, Blaise, Parkinson… You know, you've taught us a lot by just hanging out with us… Stuff we never knew about Hermione… And thanks again for the gifts…"
"Yeah, same here… But can I make a suggestion?" Draco answered looking at Harry now.
"Sure…"
"Take the time to listen to her"
"Is that it?"
"Yep…"
"Okay…"
And with that Harry and his posse turned back to head off to Gryffindor Tower.
"You lot too…" Draco said as he spun around to look at his two best friends.
"But you haven't even opened our presents yet…" Pansy said as she pouted.
"Let's open them later, okay? I just really need to rest for my rounds tomorrow morning… Guess who I have to do it with…" Draco said as he slumped on the couch.
"Hermione?" Pansy and Blaise asked as they were heading towards the Prefect Portrait.
"Right on" Draco said as he dropped his head and closed his eyes.
"Good luck! But you do need to remember to treat her like we did last year and the years before that…" Pansy reminded him from outside the portrait.
"No worries about that Parkinson…" Draco said rubbing his temples once more.
"Okay, goodnight dude…" Blaise said as he took Pansy by the waist.
"Yeah, goodnight Drakey… Don't think about it too much… It's not like you really did love Hermione…" Pansy said trying to 'reassure' him.
"Yeah, goodnight!" Draco screamed.
He just didn't want to hear any of their voices anymore. He couldn't take it anymore, he wanted to hit someone, but ended up just hitting himself. When he had hit his own thigh something hard had blocked his fist from touching his thigh.
He got it out and saw the box staring at him. It's only been a couple of hours and Hermione was already getting to him.
He opened it up and saw the very same box that she had gotten from the tiny jewelry shop in Hogsmeade. He lifted the cover and saw there a sort of silver ring, but it also had the colors of black and green… They were in fact Slytherin colors… He looked around the ring and saw something inscribed inside of it…
Thank You
Damn…
Draco had done it. He had definitely ruined his chances of getting Hermione's trust, friendship and heart back.
Why'd I have to be such an ass?
Draco then opened up the letter and made him even angrier at himself. The letter read:
Dear Draco,
Merry Christmas! I hope you liked your gift! I was the one who designed that so you know you're the only person who will have that kind of ring. Thanks again for being such a good friend when I needed you the most. You've definitely been the sweetest person to me since the whole Gryffindor thing, seeing as almost everyone in Hogwarts isn't talking to me. I'm just glad you are. We've definitely gotten close…I must admit something though. I don't want you to not be my friend… I want to just stay in the Head's Common Room forever until all this drama from the Gryffindors dies down and out. I wanna sit with you in the one and only couch of the common room and just stay there. You know stuff about me that I usually don't tell people. Why's that? You make me feel so much at ease when I'm around you. I tell you stuff like my pet dog dying when I was ten. Why do I tell you those things anyway? They're so stupid, but then you tell me to go ahead and still you listen to me. I guess that tells me a whole lot about you and my so – called friends. They don't know half the stuff I've told you about my life. I know I told you that already, but I just wanted to remind you. I also want to thank you again for the money for the stupid brooms. I swear I'm going to pay you back. And don't tell me not to again! You've done enough for me and this ring is the least I could do for you. I wanna see you wearing this tomorrow! I'll be watching! Just kidding! But I am definitely going to look for it on your hands! So… Once again, Merry Christmas and I'm really happy that you consider me your friend…
With Love,
Hermione
Draco read the letter over and over and over again until sunlight came in from one of the windows in the Common Room. It was probably around five o clock in the morning. Exactly after seeing the beautiful yellow – orange sun he heard someone coming down the stairs.
"Good morning…" Draco said to no one in particular, he wasn't even sure if someone was really going down the steps.
"Not really, but if yours is…" A cold, tired and lonely voice said to him from behind.
Draco looked behind him and saw Hermione standing there with her arms folded across her chest. Her eyes looked incredibly puffy and red.
"Hermione, I…" Draco started, but she cut in.
"Forget about it… I know you want things to go back to the way they were and I'm fine with that, so…"
"No," Draco cut her this time. She wasn't listening, this wasn't something she would usually do, but then again he did do something to piss her off. "Look, you're not listening… I DON'T want things to go back to the way they were… I like you Hermione you're my friend… You're also the only person who really understands me… I… I…"
"You what?!" She yelled her voice shaky and unstable.
"I love you…"
(A/N: END OF THE VERY SHORT CHAPTER 2!)