Dear Readers,
Well, heres the second chapter of my first book. Once again, please don't hesitate to point out any mistakes and please give my honest reviews. Many thanks for reading my story and I hope you enjoyed it! XD
~Romanceluver22
Switching to Hermione Granger's point of view.
"Hey Granger, what's the matter, someone stolen your candy?" asks the sneering voice of Draco Malfoy. I glance up at him and sigh, "Malfoy, I'm not in the mood for your pile of dung today, please just leave." "Fine," he sneers and turns to go, but pauses and looks back at me, "Wait, what's wrong?" "Why should I tell you," I ask, my voice cracking, "So you can spread rumors and lies to the whole school?" I give a hollow laugh, with tears still streaming down my face I say, "I think not! Go away!" I can hear that my voice is becoming shriller by the second, but I don't care, Malfoy meddles too much and he must stop!
"Well . . . I mean . . . I guess I just don't like seeing you hurt." Then he quickly adds, "By someone who isn't me, I mean. No one hurts my little sister but me, I guess." He gives what seems like a nervous chuckle and I look back up at him. I sigh and mull it over. Could he actually be telling the truth? It doesn't seem plausible that Malfoy would actually care about my problems. It seems like a plot. But what would the point of such a plot be? And besides, have my last two years here not already taught me that people are different than we expect. I mean look at Quarrel and Lockhart. I mean they were different for the worse, but who says people can't be different for the best? Switching to Draco Malfoy's point of view.
.
I stare at her, waiting and hoping. I watch as an internal war is waged inside her head, and see when the part willing her to accept me wins out. When I see her acceptance and hear her sigh of defeat, I sit down across from her and look at her for a moment, willing her to speak. Then I repeat my question, "What's wrong?
She slowly begins her story, it's not very long, but it takes her awhile because of her tears. "I'm so confused," she finishes with a whisper. "I mean Harry- he's-" "Your best friend," I finish for her. She nods and lays her head back down, tears overwhelming her once more. "I can't even fathom it," she says, her voice muffled by her arms. As I look at her, trying to figure out what to say, I notice a glint of blond in her milk chocolate brown hair, brought on by the light hitting it just right.
I sigh, wishing for what I can't have, what I shouldn't even want. I stare at her lowered head and shaking body and I know that I shouldn't be here. I know that, if anyone was to see, we would both be in trouble, but I can't help myself anymore. There is something pulling me to her, an invisible thread of sorts; forcing me to stay, forcing me to want what I've been taught is evil.
My thoughts are interrupted by her head raising, "Why are you here? Why are you talking to me? Comforting me?" "I don't know," I answer truthfully. She sighs again and lies her head on her crossed arms, looking at me. For a moment I'm lost in her dark chocolate eyes that match her creamy, light chocolate hair so perfectly. She sighs again, "Why is my life so confusing," she murmurs to herself, more than to me. "I should be going to a respectable, normal, non-magical, high school. Graduating top of my class, going on to college. Making lots of money and visiting my parents often, perhaps even living with them . . . But no . . ."
She sighs once more while I look at her incredulously, "Why would you want that?" "Hmm?" "Why would you want that," I repeat. "Such a plain, boring life, for such a smart, strong willed girl like you? You have so much more to offer here! You're so smart! You're top of every class! You can go so much further here! Do so much more! Honestly, you'd be wasting so much by living like a muggle! So what if Potter's dim-witted! Don't let that ruin all your potential!" She looks at me as if I've just transformed into a unicorn that will bring her all the happiness in the world and her eyes tear up. "That's . . . so . . . sweet. Thank you, Malfoy"
I look at her, startled. She's thanking me? For stating the truth? But I decide not to hold it against her; she's so emotional right now. I shrug, trying to be nonchalant about it, "No problem." She stands up suddenly and stuffs her books into her bag, not at all the way she normally does, and for a moment I think she's trying to run away from me too. But I quickly realize that's not at all the case when she throws her bag over her shoulder and says "It's stifling in here, can we go outside?" Since its true, I nod and we head outside. Switching to Harry Potter's point of view.
Practice goes badly for me, as I can't get what happened with Hermione out of my head. I'm so distracted that I unknowingly go into a dive and almost hit the ground, when people's shouts, thankfully distract me, and I just manage to get out of the dive before I hit the ground. After a moment of hovering in the air, I land, not at all gracefully, and the team lands around me.
Immediately I'm bombarded with questions. "Are you okay?" "What happened?" "You're not ill are you?" But Wood's statement stands out to me the most, "You can go rest in the tower if you need to." I nod, "Thanks Wood, I think I'll do that." I leave the pitch to change and leave the team staring at me, open mouthed, wondering if I'm okay.
I head up to the Gryffindor tower, hoping she's there, but of course she's not. I decide not to look for her, knowing she probably needs time to herself. Just then Ron walks up to me, "How'd it go?" I shake my head, "Well for one thing, not at all as planned. I just couldn't get it out." I sink into a nearby chair and Ron follows suit, nodding to show that he grasps what I said and should go on.
"I just got so nervous; everything I was going to say just flew out of my head. And then . . ." "What, mate? It can't be that bad." "I kissed her." I was silent for a moment, "I was just so nervous, and I've been wanting to so bad . . . I donno, I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't stop myself . . ." I fade off and Ron asked, "What'd she do?" "She pushed me away and then ran off. God, I was so distracted during practice, I almost crashed my broom." I hang my head and run my hands through my hair, tugging at it, trying to think about how and why I'd messed it up so badly.
After some silence I slam my fists into the table, "DAMN IT!" People looked over, alarmed. "Harry- She's just- I donno, confused or something. I mean, from the sound of it you didn't really explain how you felt, you just kissed her. We both knew she was going to have a hard time dealing with the news, now she's just dealing with it a different way than we expected."
I nod my head slowly, Yes, that's it. She's just confused. And why shouldn't she be? He had after all done exactly what Ron had just said. And he had after all envisioned this when he and Ron had been planning this. In fact, he'd envisioned much worse. At least she hadn't yelled at him, or denied him. She was just . . . Coping. Once she had thought it through he'd get her answer to his unasked question.
"God, I'm dumb." "Don't need to tell me twice, bloke." I come to a decision, "When I see Hermione next, I will explain to her, actually explain to her." "Yeah, no physical assault this time, you got it?" Ron asks, playfully shoving me. "Got it," I say with a smile forming on my lips.
Switching to Hermione Granger's point of view.
As we head out to the grounds, we are silent, Malfoy's hands stuffed into his pocket, I think waiting for me to talk. God, why am I even here with him? He's the enemy! What about all those times he tormented me? No! Stop walking and go to the Gryffindor tower and talk to Ginny about all this! Right now! I command myself over and over again to leave, to turn around and stomp off. But I just can't.
"Soo . . ." comes Malfoy's slow drawl. I sigh and he stops. For a moment I'm confused, and then I realize why, if we'd walked only five steps further we would've walked into the black lake. I look at him and he gestures to the ground, which just so happens to be hidden by trees. Even now, we are completely blocked from the view of the castle. "Would you like to sit?" I nod and flop down against the tree. Malfoy does the same as I loosen my tie, because it's far too tight. I sit there struggling with it for a bit, my hands are shaking so badly.
"Here, let me do that," and he leans over, extremely close to me. His breath is warm against my chest as he easily loosens my tie and removes it from my neck. Our heads are so, so very close, and I feel a rush of- something. He leans back against the tree and hands me my tie. "Thanks," I mutter shakily, and he nods. "Not a big deal."
After a few moments of silence my mind wanders back to Harry and what happened earlier. "You know . . . What happened earlier-" "-with Potter" I nod, "I was just so surprised, I didn't actually think much about my actual feelings about it.
Switching to Draco Malfoy's point of view.
I feel my heart plummet into my stomach and all the thrill of getting so close to her is gone. "How do you feel about him?" I ask it slowly, trying to word it in a way that doesn't reveal my feelings towards her or him. "I don't really know . . . I mean, I've always thought of him as a big brother, nothing more, but maybe . . ." She trails off and I can hear her implications and see the gears turning in her head as she tries to imagine herself with Potter.
"Well don't force it," I hear myself say dully. "What do you mean," she asks curiously. "Well . . . Just that . . . You shouldn't feel obliged to go out with him just because he kissed you. If you honestly don't like him like that, then don't go out with him." "I know," she says, in a slightly irritated tone. "I know you know, but it's something to think about. He going to try to talk to you about it again and I get the feeling he's going to be a bit more prepared. His ego is hurt by what he did and he's going to want to do it right this time."
She looked at me thoughtfully, "You're probably right . . . Harry doesn't just leave things hanging like that." I nod and continue, "I don't want you saying yes when he asks you out, just because you feel you have to. You need to think about it thoroughly before you decide, especially because he kissed you." She nods once more, thinking.
After a long moment of silence a question occurs to me, "How was it, kissing him?" "I don't really know . . . I didn't really experience it, if you understand what I mean." I nod and she goes on. "I mean, I was so surprised by the kiss itself, I didn't really feel it." I nod once more and we're silent again.
