here's the next chapter! bit of Hermione OOC at the end, but i had fun writing it so whatever C:
Chapter Seven
Hermione's clumsy feet tripped over themselves, desperately trying to walk properly, Draco's harsh grip making it almost impossible.
Her eyes looked up and around her, catching bits of unfamiliar surroundings before they whirred past her, also unable to keep up with Draco's unnecessary pace.
She caught sight of a green flag; the color alone was enough to send her a warning and stop her from putting up with Draco's irrational actions any longer.
She stopped abruptly, stiffening her arm as she pulled back, fighting his pull. Draco's firm grip kept held for a few moments before slipping off as she yanked back again, stepping back from him until she was out of his clingy range.
"We're already breaking curfew, what are you doing? Dragging me to the Slytherin common room?" She asked, her voice tinged with anger over how he had been treating her.
Draco turned around, looking at Hermione who was pointing at a Slytherin flag hanging from the ceiling to represent that it was, in fact, Slytherin territory he had forced her into.
"I have something to say to you, Granger." He spoke, not exactly answering why he was dragging her to the Slytherin dorms.
She didn't seem to notice, only listening to the tone of his voice. How it felt cold and it made her whole body stiffen.
With her head down, she tensely lifted her grey cardigan sleeve and inspected her poor abused elbow and wrist, looking elsewhere from his cold, grey blue eyes.
"Well, I have plenty to say to you too, but it can wait until tomorrow and do without your chokehold." She spoke, absent mindedly as she fixed all of her focus on her arm.
She dropped her hand, lifting her arm up slightly to show Draco.
"Look, you bruised me!" She spoke harshly, wincing when she ran a finger over the slightly discolored flesh. Draco seemed unaffected and looked like he didn't care, which wouldn't surprise Hermione if he really didn't.
"Would you quit overreacting and pay attention?" Her head only grasped around one word.
"Overreacting? Excuse me; you were the one who decided to rip my arm—"
"Just be quiet!" Draco said fiercely, shutting Hermione up immediately.
She stood up straight, putting her sleeve back down huffily as she waited for Draco to speak. Or bitch, whatever he was going to do.
Pure-blooded jerk was so sensitive as to get angry at the smallest insult, then vent all over her as much as he pleased.
Just a few moments ago, she was surrounded by pure bliss. Now, Draco had to come and stomp all over her happiness and draw out her suffering again.
She snorted, trying her best not to rip him to shreds at that very moment.
"First off, if I'm going to do this, you can't be such a wimp."
Hermione doubted her hearing for a moment. That sentence contained no 'mudblood' or 'you have no right to speak to me like that'. Actually, what he said made no sense to her.
She blinked, not even sure of what he had said in the first place. "What?"
"You let that Salamander girl put you in your place!"
"Lavender." She corrected.
His eyes widened slightly in realization before they narrowed again. "Whatever. But still, you let her talk to you like that? If it was me, I would've—"
"That's what you're mad about?" She asked her mouth agape, not exactly comprehending what Draco was asking of her. Draco blinked, his face going from angry to confused.
"What else would I be mad about?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow in interest. Hermione waved her hands in front of her.
"I mean, you didn't hear what I—" She stopped, her mouth hanging open for a few awkward moments.
"Never mind." Her eyes narrowed. "Wait, then why did you drag me here like you did?" She asked.
Draco face was blank. "I don't know what you're talking about. Like I said, you're overreacting."
"As if! You have the clutch of a dragon!"
"No. You just have the arm of a mouse." He retorted.
Her eyes narrowed further.
"I'm not going to fight with you." She spoke between gritted teeth.
"And I'm not going to date you if you act like such a wimp." He repeated, this time, Hermione actually registered what he was saying.
"Unlike you, I can tolerate smart comments from people. I don't just whip my wand out whenever I feel insulted." She said.
"Then do something physical! Don't just let people step all over you." He demanded, angrier about it then he needed to be. Hermione mentally laughed.
'You're one to talk.' She thought about her arm again, her elbow throbbing. The word physical brought back a wonderful memory. The one where she actually punched Draco in the face. Did he think she did that all the time? Her mouth opened.
"That was one time, and you tormented me for years."
He seemed to wince before speaking. "Well, I'm not going to do this favor unless you toughen up. People hear me dating a mud— muggle born that doesn't defend herself and it will do wonders to my reputation. Not to mention what hell will break loose when my father hears about this."
He spoke, seeming to grow nervous as he listed off the things. Hermione suddenly grew nervous too.
She never once thought about what would happen if people found out about them. Before, she had only been thinking about Ron. But she realized, for it to be believable, they'd have to flaunt their relationship to everyone.
Including Draco's father, Lucius, who she'd heard nothing but wonderful stories about from Harry. Even if they kept a secret from him, she was positive he'd find out sooner or later.
She grew silent. Draco hated muggle born people to an extent that Hermione would never know. She couldn't even begin to imagine how his father was. A pure blooded family with a son who suddenly started liking a— a mud blood would never be accepted. She never calculated just how far Draco was sticking his neck out for her.
She never even asked why he had begun to anyway.
She looked up, her brows furrowing in curiosity.
"So why the sudden change of heart?" She asked, her voice as soft as a whisper.
He hesitated, so long that Hermione considered whether to ask again, wondering if he had not heard her the first time.
She saw him exhale deeply before looking away from her and resting his hand on his neck. Hermione was amazed to see Draco's ever present tense body, sway slightly as he seemed to loosen up.
"You made me feel guilty." His lips pressing into a tight line as he looked up to meet her eyes.
Guilty? Draco Malfoy could feel guilt? Since when?
Hermione wanted to break out in a smirk of irony. How convenient it would've been if he felt guilty back when they were younger, when he started torturing her, Ron and Harry. If only he felt guilty seconds after he did something mean instead of hours or days afterwards.
Still, as small as it may be, it was still amazing and touching to her.
Each day, the more she wrapped herself around him, the more interesting things she found out. Every time, a little bit of Draco's hard shell cracked off and she could peer further inside.
She didn't want to build up false hope again, but something inside of her was telling her that she and Draco really did have a chance at friendship.
She never really looked twice at him. First glance he was just a mean bully who was raised to be arrogant and conceited. Selfishness was is in his blood.
But now that she looked further, he was capable of feeling guilty and sorry. He was able to thank people and he knew how to make her smile.
He shifted, causing her to look back at him. A smirk stretched across his face. "Isn't that something people in relationships do? They know stuff about each other?"
"I mean, I know about your problems and you know about mine."
The word's made Hermione melt into her spot, her eyes blinking as she felt herself get warm. She felt like liquid as she stood before him.
Who in the bloody hell was this kind stranger and where was Draco? The Draco she knew made her want to smash his face against a wall on a daily basis.
A nervous smile broke out on her face, a smile she could not stop for the life of her. The only guy she knew who could make her feel so nervous and shaky was Ron.
Here she was, smiling at Draco. Something was wrong with her.
She slightly twitched her shoulders, blinking as she wiped the smile off her face. She looked up at him before turning around. She felt the tension pull away from her as soon as her face was taken from his gaze.
"Uh, yeah." She unknowingly agreed to his previous statement, continuing to speak.
"It's way past curfew, I—"
She turned back around, walking backwards slowly.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Her hand waved, dropping at her side when she turned back around. Her lips pressed into a tight line, quickening her step as she walked towards the Gryffindor dorms, leaving Draco standing in the hallway.
Unbeknownst to her, he was also wondering what had gotten into him.
A scowl she could not see took over his face.
Hermione watched as the Fat Lady walked off of the painting, the scenery behind her opening inward like a door. She took one last look around to make sure no teachers were watching her sneaking into the Gryffindor tower way past curfew.
She could not let her detentions pile up; it would do terrible things to her perfect grades. It was that bloody ferret's fault, holding her up just so he could tell her to 'toughen up'. Even when he was trying to be nice, he had to act like a jerk. But still, better a mixture of the normal Draco and the new Draco to balance him out.
Otherwise, Hermione would go insane.
"Good night." A voice rang out to her from ahead.
Hermione froze in her spot, one leg over the frame of the painting as she looked up.
It was Ron's voice, but she knew he wasn't talking to her.
She waited a few moments, hearing Ron's faint footsteps fading out before she completely climbed over, hesitating before walking into the Gryffindor common room.
As soon as she walked in, she noticed Ron was gone and all she saw was Harry. She breathed out a quiet sigh of relief, wondering why she had gotten so nervous in the first place. Harry was sitting with his back to her, turned around on the couch as he looked towards the staircase to the boy dorm.
Her eyes narrowed curiously.
He was wearing one of Ron's jackets, one of his favorites actually. It was his grey knitted one, with the plaid pattern consisting of various browns and greens.
They were both her best friends and she knew them better than anyone. It was a dead on fact that Harry and Ron didn't share clothes, even as close as they were.
Partly because Harry was scared to wear anything of Ron's, only Merlin knew when Ron washed his clothes. And Ron thought of Harry's clothes as too formal, even though Harry wore similar clothes to Ron's.
Hermione walked farther into the Gryffindor common room, stopping a few feet from the coffee table situated in front of the couch Harry was sitting on. He must've detected her presence, as he snapped around, seemingly jerky as if frightened.
Long, dirty blonde curls shining in the candle light told Hermione this was definitely not Harry. Lavender's long, frizzed curls stilled against her shoulders, a coy smile spreading over her pudgy complexion.
"So you're finally here." She drawled out the word 'finally' making it seem like Hermione had been gone for an eternity.
"Got a goodnight kiss from your boyfriend?" She asked, an evil smile flashed across her face.
Hermione let the uneasy feeling sink into her. It took her a moment to understand that she was talking about Draco; she wasn't exactly used to the name 'boyfriend', seeing as she had never even had one before and didn't have any reason to use it.
She was even more unused to the name referring to Draco. Her nerves throbbed uncomfortably.
'Kiss?' She had never even— she hadn't had her first—
Her skin felt tight and hot around her. She was extremely uncomfortable. She would never even consider having her first kiss with Draco. She'd rather make out with Neville than him, and that said something.
She didn't answer, instead breathed in heavily and exhaled silently, her eyes locking onto Lavender's, her inarguable mouth pressed in a tight line.
Lavender spoke again. God, her arrogance was insufferable.
"Oh, forgot. You're just using Draco to make Ron jealous. Of course, you didn't kiss."
Hermione stilled, as if she wasn't still in the first place.
So, Lavender didknow Hermione's plan. Even so, at least Lavender wasn't picturing her and Draco locking lips, even though Hermione was now getting terrible mental pictures of herself with her arms wrapped around his neck—
"Draco and I are really dating; you can keep Ron." She lied, pursing her lips. Lavender arched an eyebrow, chuckling quietly as she stood up.
"Whatever you say, Hermione." She walked around the couch, making her way to the girl's dorm stairs.
"I see through you. The reason you didn't kiss Draco goodbye as you made your way to the Gryffindor dorms. The way he roughly pulled you along like some dog on a leash. Treats you more like an animal than a human, couldn't possibly be his girlfriend." She shot Hermione a smile before she turned back around and made her way up the stairs.
'Some dog?' Even though she had compared herself to a dog earlier, many lines were being crossed when Lavender said it.
Hermione's fist tightened by her side, a familiar feeling seeped into her blood stream. The same feeling she got seconds before she punched Draco in the face. Hermione bounded after Lavender, rushing up the stairs to catch Lavender with her back turned to her, outside of their dorm door. She grabbed Lavender's shoulder, having to stop herself from grabbing a fistful of her hair.
"Listen here," The rush hit her. "You stupid slag."
"Just because my lips aren't constantly glued to Draco's mouth doesn't mean he's not my boyfriend. Glad to see you practice what you preach but not everyone presents their affection like some sick show." Her eyes narrowed.
"You want us to kiss? I'll show you a kiss, only to see the look on your pudgy face when you realize how right I was and how untrue your 'facts' are."
With that, she stepped around Lavender's stunned face and into her dorm room.
A thought was prickling at the back of her mind, as she walked to her little section of the room; she quietly brought her fingertips to her lips
"Draco…" She murmured into the stillness of the room.
so, i hope we all know what Hermione's thinking about. (; review please! even if it's small, the smallest of review would still please me. i love to hear what you guys think! (unless it's negative. you can stfu if you don't like it.) so review! please. i'll love you forever.
