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Not So Secret Love
Chapter 6: Shock or Dream?
I just stand at the portrait my mouth gaping as I look around the room. It is covered with pink roses. My favorite flower. Although, I had never told anyone that. So how could he possibly know that I liked them? Well I guess he really doesn't need an explanation since he is a Malfoy and such. Deciding I looked like a moron I closed my mouth and went over to one of the beautiful vases that had about two dozen roses in it. I smelt the roses before looking up and seeing the Flower man himself, Draco.
"Do you like them?" He asked nervously. Maybe he did get the right flowers by chance. I giggle at this.
"Yes I absolutely love them." I smile happily at him. This is the best gift anyone has ever given me. Which makes me wonder, why is he giving these to me? Its not my birthday, I'm not sick; we don't have an anniversary to celebrate. It doesn't make much sense.
Almost as if he sensed my confused state he began, "Well, I was thinking. And I know that you have had it tough and such and thought you deserved something really pretty to make you happy. But I didn't know what you liked so I went for something that most girls liked, roses. And you don't seem like a red rose girl, you're more subtle like a pink rose, pretty and calm. Not 'Oh hey look at me!'" He was rambling and we both knew it. So instead of letting him go on I stepped in.
"They are absolutely gorgeous. Pink roses are actually my favorite. No one other than you knows that though. Jeriko didn't even know. He hated the concept of giving girls roses, said it was too common. But it really does make us feel good." I said as I was looking at and playing with one of the roses. He picked one up, cut off most of the stem with a pocket knife that he swiftly took out of his left robe pocket and then put the rose behind my hair. We smiled at each other briefly before deciding it was time to go to bed since we both had to go to all of our classes tomorrow.
♥
I woke up to the sound of rain pounding against the window. Opening my eyes wearily I realize I have about 2 hours before I have to be down to the greenhouses. Gryffindor's have double Herbology followed by lunch which is followed by Care for Magical Creatures. Outside all day in this terrible whether. Hopefully it will clear up after lunch.
I get up and look down, I never changed last night. Stretching, I walk to the dresser and get a new uniform and head for the bathroom. Forgetting that our bedrooms are connected by the bathroom I open the door to see Draco standing with a towel wrapped around his waist. I feel my face immediately turn shades of red. He doesn't seem bothered by it though. He just smiles. I on the other hand am completely embarrassed and shut the door after saying an almost silent sorry.
Sitting on my bed, I try listening for him to leave. He looked so…I don't even know a word that could give justice to how good he looked. His hair was still wet and dripping onto his built body. Then the drops of water just slipped down over his tightened muscles.
Sudden knocking made me jump and stop my day dreaming. "Hey I'm done now, the bathroom is all yours." Draco said calmly, although he sounded like he was trying with all of his might to not crack up. Of course he would think this whole situation would be hilarious. I decide to wait a few more seconds before going to the bathroom. The last thing I want to do is open the door and see him still standing there.
Taking a deep breath I get up and walk to the bathroom door. I don't hear anyone in there so I open the door slowly. I sigh deeply when I see that he is not in there anymore. I walk over to the shower and turn it on; it's probably already hot, but oh well. I quickly undress and get in. Realizing I probably don't have a lot of time I shower fast and get back out as soon as I can. Throwing on my clothes I run back into my room. I grab my hair brush and quickly brush my hair then dry and straighten it with a quick spell I memorized the other day.
Looking in the mirror I sigh, if only I had enough time to put on some light makeup I would actually look pretty for a day. But it doesn't really matter now. I snap back to reality and grab my book as I run quickly out of my room and get to the portrait where I realize Draco was waiting for me.
"Well, I must say Hermione, you look good for rushing around like a wild animal." He smirks cheekily as he opens the portrait door for me. We walk down to the greenhouses together but act as if we hate being together. I seriously wonder if this will ever go away. I mean sure, Jeriko didn't want to be with me once he found out I had to leave but at least he wasn't scared to be seen with me, he practically paraded me around all of London. But Draco just completely shuts down. Though I can't really blame him. His friends and family would probably disown him forever if he was caught getting along with the Mudblood. But that makes me wonder why he will even walk with me. Even that will get him a taunt or two.
Finally after what seems like ages of silent walking, we reach the greenhouses. Luckily for both of us no one realized we were both gone from breakfast or that we came in the class together, at least no one was brave enough to voice those facts.
Herbology lasted for about 3 hours and when it was finally over I went to lunch with Ron and Harry. As soon as we walked into the Great Hall Luna came up to me. Sudden fear and guilt flushed over my body. "Hermione are you ok??? You weren't at any of the past four meals and Harry and Ron told me they didn't see you at any of your classes, and you look really pale! Are you sick? Do you have the Goblin Gibbers? Father says those are going around. You can' really tell you have them, but you don't feel hungry and you're always really pale and can't think properly. Maybe you should go to the hospital wing! It's really not good to stay sick like this Hermione, plus I heard it tends to be contagious." She looks so seriously concerned. I feel horrible. I know it's not the right time to tell her. It's just not. And I have no idea when it will be. So I decide to just go along with being sick. Maybe it'll get me out of range for awhile. I know I have to go to classes but I can't not have Luna taking me to see if I'm sick or not without having to explain about Draco. There's no way she would be ready to accept this whole thing this soon.
"Yeah, maybe I should." I say quietly feeling horrible for lying to her. Knowing the feeling of guilt won't go away anytime soon if it ever does I gulp slightly.
"Oh no! Hermione! You're already into the gulping stage?!? This is so serious!" She starts to go faster assuming that my 'condition' keeps getting worse. If only she knew how much the real problem was getting. I hate lying to her so much, she's been so great to me and has told me everything that has happened to her and here I am hiding practically the biggest thing that's happened to me. I have to be the worst best friend in the world. And not to mention the worst Head Girl. I really need to get to class. Hopefully I'll be released before lunch is over and I can make it to Hagrid's. Although I know he won't mind if I'm late to class.
We finally make it to the wing, and to my luck Madame Pomfrey said that I was fine and would just need to eat some dinner tonight and get a good nights sleep. So we easily make our way back downstairs and outside. Luna has Herbology so I say bye to her as she leaves the main trail and I continue until I finally reach Hagrid's Hut. Thankfully, the rain let up before Herbology was even half over so I only had to walk in the rain once. By the time I had gotten into the crowd class had started. I rushed over to Ron and Harry and look around for Draco. He was on the other side of the crowd with his Slytherin friends. Not surprising. But the worst part is Pansy is all over him and she just keeps looking at me as if she knows. Although how could she not. This year Draco's paid even less attention to her than normal. And of course it doesn't take much to know that the Head Boy and Head Girl spend almost too much time together. She probably put two and two together.
Just great, now I have my best friend not knowing enough, and my enemy knowing too much. It's not like I could ever be with him anyway. He's probably set to become a Death Eater after school ends. Then he and Pansy will be forced to marry even though that's no where near what he wants. Although, I can't really put words into his mouth like that. Maybe he does want to be a Death Eater. Maybe this whole thing is just a trick. I don't know I'm too confused.
Finally after spending the whole class thinking about Draco and if he would just go and be a Death Eater we were told we could go and everyone started to trail off. As I started to leave Harry tugged on my robe. "Hmm?" I say meekly.
"What's wrong Hermione? I watched you most of the class time. You seemed like you weren't even here. You didn't have your book open at all. It's not even out of your bag. I know something is wrong so just tell me. Even if it's about Draco, just tell me. I can bite my tongue long enough to let my best friend vent." Harry has always been so understanding. We are barely ever apart because he really is the only person I can talk to freely. Most people just assume we are dating but I don't think I could ever date Harry. It would just be too awkward.
Taking a deep breath I prepare myself for this long talk. I tell him everything that's been bugging me. Not being able to tell Luna, having to lie to her, thinking Pansy knows, and not knowing if he is going to be a Death Eater.
"Wow, I see why you're so upset." He hugs me tightly before continuing. "Here's my insight. The longer you wait the worse it will be for Luna, I think a week will be the longest you could wait. I mean if you really think you should wait longer ok, but it won't be fair to her. Who cares what Pansy knows? It's not like anyone would believe her anyway. Everyone knows she just wants Draco in bed. As for the Death Eater, just talk to him. It will be better than just wondering. But it's about dinner time and we both know you have to eat whether you want to see the people in there or not. So let's get going." He smiles comfortingly before taking my hand and walking with me to the castle. On the way there we talk about silly things that happened over the summer at Ron's house. It helped take my mind off of my summer, and everything that was happening now.
Once we finally got to the Great Hall I sighed as we walked in. I decided it would be better to just stare at the floor instead of looking around the hall. When we sat down I quickly ate and got the homework from Hagrid's class from Harry and ran back to my Dorm room. Draco wasn't in the common room so he was either with his friends or in his room. So I decided to just dive into my homework. Within two hours I had both days done. With a sigh of relief I stand up and look at the clock. It's only 8 o clock. I decide to see if Draco's in the common room. I open the door and see an empty room. "Oh well" I whisper softly. Closing the door, I look in the mirror. I finally have gone a day without crying. It feels good.
The next thing I know I'm on my bed reading my Potions book, that's the first class tomorrow and I want to be ahead of Snape. But my eyes are getting really heavy…I just can't hold them open anymore. So I drift to a deep sleep full of undreamt dreams.
So I really hadn't planned on this chapter being very long at all after I started writing it but oh well. I promise there will be a huge time skip from this chapter to the next, well not huge but fairly large. Please let me know how you feel about the story! I love getting online and seeing new reviews. It makes my day a lot better. Thanks!
