Draco was already there when she arrived at their arranged meeting to re-do the match list. He was bent over a large piece of paper on the desk and without ceremony she joined him and they worked silently for a few minutes.
Draco then leant back and stretched, rubbing his forehead.
"I need a minute without staring at this," he said and Hermione moved away from the desk too. She stared out of the window, partly to stop herself staring at him and partly because she had no idea what reaction she would get if she tried to engage him in conversation. After a few minutes she started working again, finding it easier to have something to concentrate on.
"Don't you ever stop, Granger?" Draco's asked. "Is this the thing that does it for you? Paper and words and analysis?"
"Of course not!" Hermione said indignantly. "Just because I have high standards for myself, it doesn't mean I don't have a life." She couldn't help it but she felt insulted by his implication. He sat back down by her and they worked again, surprisingly well. She wanted to throw his insult back at him because he was just as studious as she was and just as analytical and clever. Somehow he managed to carry it off in a way that made it cool!
"So are you coming to watch Ginny and I win our matches then?" His tone and easy going question surprised her and she looked at him.
"Errr...I hadn't thought about it."
"You've got to come and watch!"
She sat up properly and looked at him. "Why do you care if I watch or not?"
She saw his back straighten defensively as he answered her. "I didn't say I cared, Granger."
She swallowed anxiously as she realised she was being aggressive with him when he had only tried to make conversation. She'd been wanting him to be normal with her and now he was she was snapping his head off. Hermione knew that it was her self defence mechanism kicking in, trying to protect her from letting Draco affect her anymore than he already was.
They worked in silence again and Hermione was glad when they finished. As Draco used a spell to make several copies of their finished article she watched him, feeling anxious and frustrated. She wanted to go over and ask him if they could try and be friends. She wanted to tell him that she no longer hated him, that the opposite was true. More than that though she just wished they could feel at ease with each other, like she felt when she was with Blaise. She sat up suddenly – so she was alone with him right now, if she couldn't try and say something now when would she ever be able to? What was the worst thing that could happen? Utter humiliation and degradation. Well, she'd been there before so what the hell?
"Do you mind Blaise being friends with me?" She said the first thing that came into her head and she saw him hesitate before he turned to look at her.
"It's nothing to do with me who Blaise is friends with."
"But you must have an opinion. I know you can't be pleased about it."
"So there's your answer then." He turned his back on her again indicating the end of their conversation. Hermione sighed at her immediate failure.
"I've copied twenty, is that enough?" Draco asked, still with his back to her.
"Yes." Hermione kept her answer short and stood up, ready to leave.
"Would you like me to put them around the school?" He was looking at her now, the leaflets in his hand. Hermione nodded and turned to leave the room. All she wanted to do now was escape.
"Granger?"
Hermione turned round as she opened the door. "Yes?"
"Wait, I'll walk you back. It's late."
Hermione pulled a face at him. "Oh, don't bother with being polite now."
Suddenly Draco was next to her holding the door shut. "I don't mind you and Blaise being friends." He had jumped the conversation back unexpectedly and Hermione shook her head in bewilderment.
"Then why couldn't you have said that when I asked instead of being so rude?" Hermione could hear the whine in her voice and sighed again at how difficult everything was.
"Because I've spent six years being rude to you and it's a hard habit to break."
Hermione pushed his arm away from the door and opened it. "Tell you what then, let me know when you've managed it. Until then leave me alone."
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
She attended lessons the next day feeling utterly miserable. She had to face the fact that it was just too difficult to try and be friends with Draco, let alone anything else and the only solution to her predicament was for her to work really hard at ignoring her feelings for him. Blaise was waiting outside first lesson.
"So you and Draco have had a fall out?" he asked as she approached him.
Hermione was surprised that Draco had mentioned anything to Blaise. She couldn't imagine their conversation having any affect on him at all. She shrugged her shoulders.
"In order to fall out, Blaise you have to already be getting along with one another. Draco and I will never be able to do that, there is just too much history between us. So last night was just our usual conversation – he's rude to me, I get upset, he can't understand why I'm upset..." Hermione shrugged. Blaise was looking at her intently.
"Well, as much as I hate to take sides – why exactly are you so upset when he's rude to you? Isn't that exactly the same as the last 6 years?" Blaise was studying her. "Why don't you just tell him to get lost or punch him. That was how you dealt with him up until now."
Hermione sighed loudly. "Yeh, good point, why don't I do that?" she said this dejectedly and Blaise took her arm.
"Spill," he said this in a gossipy way and despite her bad mood Hermione found him amusing.
"You're acting like a girl." She pointed out to him but he just shrugged.
"Don't care. Now spill the beans."
"There aren't any beans."
"Yes there are. Why are you letting Draco get to you?" Blaise's handsome face suddenly creased into a frown. "Actually why is he letting you get to him? He was really worked up about it all earlier."
Hermione stared at him digesting this piece of information. So their disagreement had got Draco all upset as well? Blaise poked her in the arm.
"You like him don't you?"
Hermione looked down at the floor desperately trying to think of a clever answer to get her off the hook. Blaise could be worryingly observant and accurate sometimes.
"Hermione?"
"No...I mean...no..."
"That's a yes then." Blaise had an amused look on his face and Hermione gave into him. She felt she could tell him and it would be such a relief to tell someone. She'd toyed with telling Ginny so many times but every time she thought of Ginny she inevitably thought of Harry and she couldn't bring herself to do it.
"Yes, I do." Hermione heard her own voice saying the words but she felt like she was listening to someone else. "Stupidly I do like him and I have no idea why."
"Because he's a flirty, manipulative, arrogant git and girls find that attractive for some strange reason." Blaise grinned. "I say that as his best friend, of course."
Hermione laughed. "Glad you're not my best friend!" Her face suddenly changed to utter horror. "Oh my god! Do you think he knows and he's just playing along with me to make me feel bad?"
Blaise pulled a face. "No! Of course not."
"I feel like an idiot, Blaise. I mean he's spent the past six years trying to make my life a misery and I know he's changed but he's still so unpleasant to me so why the hell do I like him?"
"Don't worry about it, Hermione. I'm completely besotted with Ginny but she's still all loved up with Potter so what a waste of energy that is! But I can't stop." Blaise confessed without a hint of embarrassment and Hermione stared at him astonished.
"You like Ginny? Really? Oh dear."
"What a sad, sorry pair we are." Blaise said but he was grinning. "I mean you're great! Funny, sweet, kind, pretty...so why haven't I got a thing for you?"
Hermione smiled gently at him. "Thank you."
"What for?"
"Saying all those lovely things about me."
"You're welcome." Blaise put his arm around her shoulder. "How we meet later to wallow in our mutual misery?"
Hermione laughed and agreed.
Interesting? So Blaise likes Ginny - wonder where that can go? And Hermione has confessed! Keep reading, hope it's enjoyable. Love your comments so please review x
