Had he really said that to her? He hadn't meant for it to sound cruel, it was just truly shocking. That the two of them had could act as friends, when he had treated her so badly amazed him. He had thought he had lost all chances with her, and just as he was regaining hope, he had to ruin it.
He had spent the entire meeting in deep thought, trying to figure out how to clean his mess up, which only led to daydreaming. Somehow, his thoughts had only depressed him further. No matter the scenario he played out in his mind, he couldn't see them ever being together. Publicly, his father would kill them both. If they remained a secret, well he knew Hermione would never agree to that. That is, if she ever agreed to even speak to him again...
Now, here they were working as partners in Potions again, but Hermione acted as if he weren't even there. She did most of the work herself, pushing him aside when he got in her way. Yes, Draco knew it wouldn't be easy to gain her forgiveness.
Draco leaned against the table and watched as Hermione worked. How is it that this girl, the mudblood of all people, makes me this nervous? I could have any girl in this school, but the only one I want, could care less about me. He sighed, "I believe I owe you an apology."
Hermione shot him a surprised look, but said nothing.
"I didn't mean it as arrogant as it had sounded, I was just genuinely shocked." She remained focused on the potion at hand, the only sign she had even heard him was the tense set of her shoulders. "If someone had told you a year ago, that the two of us could walk, and work together as friends, what would you have said?"
She set down the mermaid scales she had been chopping to stare at him. Her eyes shone with understanding then. "I would have thought they were mental. As are you, if you think that was an apology."
He laughed and moved her aside. He picked up the knife she had been using, and continued slicing the scales into small slivers. "You're right. I am sorry that you misunderstood the meaning of my statement. I'm sorry you seemed to have been upset by what I had said. Mostly though, I am sorry that I let you ruin this potion. We're going to receive a very poor grade because you can't properly cut scales." He smirked down at her.
Hermione's jaw dropped, but she knew she couldn't argue. Even Harry had been doing better than her in Potion's this year. She shook her head and moved to stir the boiling mixture. "Apology accepted." She muttered, causing him to laugh.
"So, tell me. Weasley has been glaring at you since the beginning of class. I take it you're back to rowing with him again?"
Hermione groaned and sat down. "He doesn't believe I wasn't dating Blaise. Now he thinks we broke it off because he caught us." She sighed,
"Honestly, I thought I had explained it to him yesterday, but apparently not."
"I thought you were discussing a gift with him yesterday?" Draco tried to play it off as curiosity, but he had known they were discussing the bracelet he had given her. He had heard them before he interrupted them yesterday. There is no way she can trace it back to me, but I hadn't wanted her to think it was from Weasley. What had I wanted? I want her...
"We were. I know it had to have been from her, it had his grandmum's initials on it, and I've seen her wearing in paintings." Draco's eyes widened.
"You have? Where?" His heart quickened, he shouldn't have asked that. She's going to think it was suspicious. He stilled his hands, and stared at her in fear.
Luckily, Hermione thought nothing of it. "The House of Black, we were there-" I should not have said that... She looked up to see him staring at her. She cleared her throat, "I mean to say the painting came from the House of Black, when she had lived there. Obviously I haven't been there." She laughed nervously, even to her own ears her voice sounded strange.
Draco quickly looked back down to to potion. "Obviously. No one has been able to get in there since they locked old Sirius up. Mum tried once, but couldn't even find the house." His voice was cold, but his palms were sweating. He had thought for sure she had caught on to him, for a moment.
They continued the rest of the class in silence, shooting each other awkward glances every few minutes. When Slughorn finally dismissed the class, they both jumped out of their seats and quickly exited the room.
Hermione went back to her dorm room instead of going to Herbology. Draco was still her partner, and she couldn't spend another class with him. She shouldn't have mentioned Sirius's house. It was suppose to be a hideout for the Order, and she had went and told a Death Eater about it! She hid her head under her pillow and blocked out the world for the rest of the day.
She hadn't really needed to ditch class, because Draco had also skipped Herbology to avoid having to work with Hermione again. She hadn't caught on to his questioning, but she had been acting odd after. Instead of going back to his room like Hermione, he looked for Blaise. The search was short lived, however, because Blaise was sitting in the Slytherin Common Room.
Draco sat down next to his friend on the sofa. "I don't know what to do..."
Blaise sat up quickly, "Drake, it will be okay. You heard what Snape said the other day. He made an Unbreakable Vow to help-" Draco shook his head.
"Not that, mate." He ran his hand through his silver-blonde hair. "I ahh..erm-Hermione..." He sighed and shook his head.
Blaise rolled his eyes, "Why don't you start at the beginning?"
Draco nodded, "Before my grandad married my grandmum, he was seeing Cedrella Black. But the old hag dumped him for a Weasley. When she ended things, she returned all the gifts he had sent her. When he passed away I went through some of his things, and I found a bracelet he had given her, with her initials engraved on the inside. Except, I hadn't seen the initials. So, when Valentines day rolled around, I uhh- Well, I sent it to Granger, you know, because she deserves something as beautiful and delicate as she is, you know? But there was no way she could have known it was from me." He knew he was rambling now, but it just kept flowing from his mouth like a gaping wound. "But the initials, Granger knew whose they were, and she thought it was from Weasley, only Weasley said it wasn't, that it must have been from you. The prat still thinks you're seeing her, by the way. She keeps trying to tell him different, but he won't listen. I heard them arguing about it yesterday. Then today, in potions, she was talking about it, and maybe I asked a few too many questions. I don't know, but she was jumpy after that, and now I've gone and skipped class to avoid her." He sighed.
Blaise just stared at Draco. He stared, and then burst into laughter. "Draco Malfoy! Nervous about a girl!" He roared with laughter. "Never thought I'd see the day!"
Draco looked at Blaise with disdain, "Are you through yet?" His voice was hard.
Blaise sobered up and nodded, "Sorry mate," He grinned mischievously. "Look, you had to know she would think it was from someone. Clearly she doesn't hate you anymore, so I don't see why you had to hide who it was from. Why not just take the chance, Drake? You never know, she might surprise you."
"You know why I can't. Even if she did, it wouldn't matter. Or have you forgotten? Any day now, I'll be expected to end an innocent man's life, and there's no way she will look at me the same after that." He muttered. "I'll be forced to take the Dark Mark, and then I'm his Blaise... Don't you get that?" His voice shook with fear.
"That's exactly why you should live now, because you don't know what it's gonna be like later." He patted Draco on the shoulder, "Come on, mate. It's time for lunch." The boys stood and left for the Great Hall.
"Maybe you're right, mate."
