Chapter Three-If It Were Up To Me
AN: I know this chapter is pointless/meaningless/not well written, but I am going through a lot and writing is my therapy. Please bear with me! Anyone interested in a cool band that sounds a lot like Reel Big Fish? Check out Suburban Legends! I am only saying this because they will be mentioned in the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!
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Four days had passed since the start of the year. Hermione had gone about her business and did her best at being a prefect. She had been a prefect in her fifth year, so she knew what to do and how to do it, but she didn't have as much heart as she had before. She felt numb inside, she didn't care about anything or anyone. Well, almost anyone.
She had still been thinking about Malfoy. He had already called her a mudblood at least forty times in the last four days, but he didn't have the same cruelness as he had before. It seemed as if he were only calling her a mudblood to keep up tradition, almost as if he didn't really mean it.
This was very confusing to Hermione. She had shrugged off this idea as just that, an idea, until the fifth day of school when an extremely strange event occurred.
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Draco had been miserable the entire first week of his sixth year. He had been looking for an opportunity to apologize to Hermione, but it seemed like wherever she was, she was with someone else. She was never alone.
That made Draco even more jealous of her. Even when her best friends weren't around, Hermione always found someone to be there for her. Draco didn't have that, he had himself, and that was all.
He got fed up with waiting for a moment alone with Hermione, so he decided to send her a letter asking her to meet him by the lake. He hoped it would work. With that said, he sat down to write the hardest letter of his life. It took him three hours, and as soon as he was done, he sent his owl away, regretting it almost the second he sent him.
"I hope she meets me tonight. If she doesn't, I don't know what I'll do." he said as he sat back in his chair, looking up at the sky.
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Hermione had been sitting on her bed for hours it seemed. She had almost drifted off to sleep when she heard a tapping at her window, She looked outside to find an owl she had never seen before. This didn't really shock her, she was always receiving letters from Harry and Ron from owls she didn't recognize, so she brushed this off as another new pet, accepted the letter, and sat down on her bed again.
She hoped it was a letter from Harry. Ron had sent at least twenty letters to her, but she had only received four from Harry. They were long, of course, but just knowing he cared would make Hermione feel better.
She opened the letter, and dropped her mouth in shock. It was from MALFOY! She knew this immediately because the slytherin colors were embroidered on the parchment, in the center of the parchment read "from the desk of Draco Nathaniel Malfoy." That didn't surprise Hermione as much as what the letter said.
Hermione,
Please meet me by the lake at Eleven P,M. sharp. There is a matter I need to discuss with you that can only be discussed in person. I know in all of the years we've known each other, we've had nothing but problems. But please, I am asking you to trust me, just this once. Hope to see you there.
Sincerely,
Draco
Hermione didn't know how to react. The letter seemed legit, so she decided to meet him. She only hoped it wasn't some sort of cruel joke, a game. She glanced at the clock, and noticed it was a quarter to 11. She decided to head down to the lake, and see what he wanted.
"Here I go." she thought, before taking one last glance at the letter and heading out.
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The night was cool, and the crystal clear sky provided a nice setting for the talk Draco was about to have with Hermione. He was nervous. What was this girl...this....MUDBLOOD....doing to him? He had never apologized to anyone before, not even his father, and now all of the sudden he was dying to utter the words "I'm sorry" to the one person he hated most in this world. The funny thing is, Draco didn't even know why he hated her. Sure, she was a mudblood, but that had never stopped him before. In fact, he had started to become friends with a 7th year Hufflepuff who happened to be muggle-born.
It certainly wasn't because she was a know it all, either. That's one of the things he admired about Hermione. She was intelligent, unlike most of his fan club that were only interested in hair and makeup. The only logical explanation he could come up with is Potter and Weasley. He hated the both of them with his entire being, that it was only normal for him to hate Hermione by association. Maybe that's why he wanted to be nice to her, because her best friends were away for the year. Maybe that's why he wanted to apologize to her, because there really was no reason to hate her.
Or maybe he was just falling in love with her.
These thoughts were running through Draco's mind as he waited for her by the lake. Just when he had about given up hope, he saw a shadow walking toward him with bushy hair and baggy robes, almost twenty minutes late. Would he be able to get through this? He did not know. All he knew was he wanted to be with her, but he had to do it slowly, one step at a time.
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Hermione had intended to be at the lake on time, really. But something made her stop for a while. She needed to think this through before she actually went and talked to him. How come she had trusted him so willingly? For all she knew, he could be sitting there right now with you-know-who himself ready and waiting to kill her. But for some reason, even after all of her thinking, she still trusted him. She actually wanted to be around him. Not because she liked him, oh no, Hermione Granger would never like Draco Malfoy, she just wanted to figure him out.
But his eyes…those mysterious, dark eyes…they had a hidden agenda, she could see it. There was more to him than just cruelty and cockiness, she saw love in his eyes. Hermione thought about this as she continued walking to the lake. With her head down and self-esteem cowering, she slowly walked up to Draco.
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"I didn't think you would come, Hermione."
Those were the first words out of Draco's mouth as Hermione approached him. He couldn't even see her face, but he knew the outline of her hair and body, and for some odd reason, he could feel her around him.
"How did you know it was me? Have you been stalking me or something?" Hermione said this only half-jokingly,
"Honestly, I saw the outline of your hair. That's how I knew it was you."
"Look Malfoy if you think I came here to be insulted, you have another thing coming to you!" Hermione was now extremely upset.
"Hermione…wait….I just….I wanted you to come here cause…well, I'm sorry ok?" Draco said regretting it almost instantly. He had not intended to tell her this way, so boldly and abruptly.
"You're what?" Hermione said.
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Ahhhhh Cliffhanger! Well not really… I mean, he just said he's sorry. But how will she react? I know I said I wouldn't update this without 5 reviews but I just can't help it! It is very addicting you know. I know this chapter sucks, and thank you to the three wonderful reviewers. Next chapter up in the next couple of weeks….I'll be busy, college is starting June 28th! Bye everyone!
