You Are My Sweetest Downfall
A/N:This chapter is really short and just kind of a way for you to see what Hermione's mindset is. I won't be able to update for a while because I'll be out of town (like anybody cares). I promise the next chapter will have some sort of action in it and won't just be what people are thinking. What I can't promise you is if it will be any good. I'm juggling a couple ideas but I'm not quite positive where or even what I want to do with this story. Oh by the way the title for the last chapter was because Maslow's hierarchy is this psychologist theory about human stages of life and their needs. When people have truly matured and reached their full potential Maslow claims they have reached the self actualization level of their lives. I threw that stuff in cause I just happened to be procrastinating doing my psych assignment when I decided to write this story. Is it inappropriate for me to wish people a Happy Thanksgiving? If it is, I'm sorry. Also does it bother anybody else that people seem to be blatantly skipping over Thanksgiving and going straight to Christmas? Sorry for rambling!
Disclaimer: I am a poor college student. I own nothing with exception of my student loans. I definitely do not own Harry Potter. If I did then there would be no need for the loans.
HERMION POV
Hermione finally tore herself away from her book and looked around to find Draco lying on the couch, apparently he had dozed off. She took this as the perfect opportunity to make a run to her bedroom and get ready to sleep. As she completed her nightly ritual of getting ready for bed she let her mind wonder. She began to think how blessed she was to be able to escape to Hogwarts for one last year. She was even more elated to be head girl. It was a dream she had since she had began her academic career at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Having accomplished this goal gave her great sense of comfort. It reminded her of herself before the war and it kept her grounded with the normalcy of the responsibility it provided. She had many predecessors for head girl. She did not on the other hand have many predecessors in role of helping defeat the darkest wizard of all time. She relished in the extra responsibilities she was given as head girl. She was not thoroughly pleased with the responsibilities thrust upon her as war hero Hermione Granger. She had never been one to bask in or solicit extra unnecessary attention. Now it was as though people thought her humbleness as opening to give it to her. She was constantly being fawned over and pampered. People were always trying to give her things and watching everything she did. If she had to "ignore" another headline about her in the Daily Prophet she thought she might become an agoraphobic and never leave her house. No, she did not enjoy the superfluous attention in the least. In fact it caused her a great amount of anxiety. This is why she appreciated being back at Hogwarts. She was back in a place she loved, helping the people who she knew and cared about. These people who had know her for years now had gone through many of the trials she had they understood her and generally let her be.
Life was not perfect though. As much control as she could harness over her life she finally had come to accept that life liked to take random swings at one's control tower. The wrecking ball life was utilizing at the moment was Draco Malfoy. As soon as his name crossed her mind she thought back to the incident in the common room. In years past he had pestered her by teasing her and just directing general rudeness and malice towards her. This year he had decided on a more subtle tactic yet Hermione would have probably preferred him just to curse her. Instead simply just stared at her. She could take his childish remarks and knock him down a notch with her wittier ones but she could not counteract his endless staring. All she could manage to do was pretend to ignore and be as apathetic towards him as possible. He had to know that this would drive her loony. Not only was he giving her unwanted attention but he tried to act as he was being a completely normal bloke towards her. He knew that this was the worst possible torture he could inflict on her because Hermione was a creature who lived in her head and all she would do was wonder what his motives were. Though she knew what they were; his motives were to simply bother her. The fact that she knew this yet couldn't let it go was what he knew would gnaw at her very soul. This was Hermione's theory she came up with and she felt it held a high amount of validity. Though Draco had attempted to help the Order during the end of the war, this did not mean she had to befriend him. They were polar opposites. She respected him an increasing amount more but still found him to be a rather large git.
She might have not found him such a bother if he was not knowingly committing her biggest pet peeve. By always staring at her and not actually doing anything she couldn't she constantly was wondering what he was thinking. She couldn't ever really know what he was thinking. He was denying her knowledge! This thought made her want to run back down to the common room and sock him straight in the face…again. Earlier in the common room while she was perusing her book in front of the fire she couldn't fully concentrate and was not able to finish it as quickly because she could feel his steal grey eyes boring a whole in the back of her head. She suddenly realized she had spent an awful lot of time contemplating Draco so she roughly jumped into big four post bed and humphed as she closed the curtains. She had to give the boy some credit for being able to exasperate her without even being in the same room. That took talent. She was of course fair Hermione Granger and gave credit where credit was due.