Hermione's Song

Hermione's Song
Chapter 8: We Used To Be Friends

Chapter Rating: God, I dunno, probably PG12, 13ish?

Disclaimer: Doesn't own anything...

'Perfect,' whispered Blaise Zabini, scanning the paper quickly. 'Have you read anything past that?'

Pansy nodded, 'Yes, but they're of absolutely no use whatsoever. They're full of retarded soppy crappy thoughts and stuff.'

Blaise rolled his eyes. 'Diaries were invented so people could record their soppy crappy thoughts and stuff.'

'Whatever. What do we do?'

Blaise flashed her an evil grin.

'Leave that to me.'

(Draco's POV)

She's so funny. If I'd paid the slightest bit of attention to her all these years, I'd have noticed how funny she is…

No, that's wrong. I paid loads of attention to her. Just… not the right sort of attention.

I feel awful for messing up her potion on purpose. But… part of me… thinks it's great. If I hadn't, I wouldn't know how fantastic she could be. Potter and Weasly and Other Weasly haven't a clue about what they're currently missing out on.

'They're stopped being silly…'

'Noooooo, you think so, Ronnie?'

'Shut up, Gin-Gin.'

'OHMIEFFINGGAWDWHATTHEHELLISWRONGWITHYOUICAN'TBELIEVE…'

'Yeah, Ron, you shouldn't call her that…'

'THATYOUWOULDEVENTRYCALLINGMEAPATHETICNICKNAMELIKETHAT'

'…because she doesn't like it.'

'TAKETHATRONALDFREAKINGWEASLY!'

'…ouch.'

'Shut up, Harry.'

'You asked for it!'

'Don't look at me like that!'

'What, like thiiiiiiiiis?'

'Harry, stop grinning like a freaking madman. Ron… stop… acting all Ron-like.'

'Ron-like?'

'Yes, Ron-like. Shut up, anyway…'

'Yes, Ginny?'

'What?'

'Never mind. Anyway, Hermione's reading a book, and Draco looks like he's… thinking.'

'Well, we know that he's incapable of such a thing, so…'

'Hahaha. Anyway, Hermione's leaning… on… his… shoulder…'

'WHAT THE FUCK.'

'Um… she's leaning… on his… shoulder… and… staying… there…'

'WHAT THE –'

'Shut up, he's leaning down…'

'WHAT THE –'

'And he's talking to her and she's laughing.'

'Hermione?'

Hermione looked up into the face of Draco Malfoy. She carefully slipped a bookmark into her book and dropped it.

'You're friends are spying on us.'

'I can't believe…'

'I know, I guess they're suspicious, right?'

Hermione nodded solemnly.

'They have no reason to.'

Another nod. Draco was almost glad that she wasn't saying anything.

'Hermione… these last few days have been great. I just wanted to tell you that I really value our friendship.'

It was no lie. She was the one person he could really talk to, they were really similar, all in ways the other had never dared to dream about. They could relate to each other, and they understood each other.

A final nod, accompanied by a smile.

'We've got each other, and that's a lot,' she whispered.

'Blaise? You there?'

Blaise yawned and stumbled out. 'Pansy… what do you want?'

Pansy stared at him. 'Did you take a nap? It's four in the afternoon!'

'I need my beauty sleep. What do you want?'

'Tell me what you did!!'

'Oh. You reeeeeeeally wanna know?'

'Duh, that's why I asked you…'

'But are you suuuuuuuure you reeeeeeeeeeally wanna know?'

'YES.'

'Absoluuuuuuuuuutly positiiiiiiiivellllyyyyy?'

'BLAISE, TELL ME NOW.'

'Will you go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow, Hermione?'

Hermione nodded furiously and waved goodbye before running back to her dormitory.

Not-so-far away, Harry, Ron and Ginny were observing.

'Ohmigod.'

'What, Ginster?'

'What the HELL did you call me??'

'Calm down, I was joking. Anyway, what??'

'I read Malfoy's lips, he asked Hermione if she wants to go to Hogsmeade with him, and she said YES!'

'What!!'

'Ron, calm down, that isn't the issue. The issue IS that Ginny can lip-read, and she didn't read their lips EARLIER!'

'Oh.'

'Um, well, earlier… I didn't think that it was… necessary?'

'God, Ginny, you'll be the death of me.'

'Sorrieeeeee.'

'Eurgh.'

H O G S M E A D E .

Draco smiled at Hermione as they braved the cold weather. 'Would you like a butterbeer?'

Hermione grinned and nodded, the snuggled closer to him to warm up from the snow.

Together, they entered the Three Broomsticks, hung their jackets up on the rack near the front, and found a table near the Christmas Tree. Mme Rosmerta came over to take Draco's order, and returned with it a couple of minutes later.

Hermione scribbled Going to the bathroom and walked away.

The minute she entered the restroom she noticed Pansy Parkinson. Her pug face looked even uglier in the unflattering light. She smirked and handed Hermione a piece of parchment.

'Read it and weep,' she proclaimed.

Hermione scanned the parchment, her expression growing worse and worse.

Where is she wondered Draco. Other girls I know don't take ten minutes to use the bathroom, unless there's a really long queue, which there is not. Maybe something happened… no, that's not it; I would have heard a scream or something.

He sighed and glanced at Hermione's untouched butterbeer.

I hope she comes back soon.

I have to stop this. I have to get her away permanently from Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. It'll be easier then. It's already getting easier. She won't be able to fix that potion, there's no known cure. She's already mad at her friends. And plus, she trusts me. Totally vulnerable. I'm going to hang around with her for another few days, then when I'm sure it's time... I'll drop her. I'll tell her that she's a filthy mudblood. I'll tell her that there's a reason why Potter and Weasley dropped her, and that I don't blame them one bit. I'll tell her that she was dreaming if she thought we were really friends through all this. I'll tell her that she's delusional if she thought that I hadn't done anything to her potion. I'll tell her it's all my fault. I'll tell her that I don't regret it. Not one bit.

Hermione's head was spinning, sentences popping up. She could see Draco in her head, smirking, spitting at her.

'Totally vulnerable.'

I'm not, she thought.

'She's a filthy mudblood.'

I can't believe he really thinks that.

'I don't regret it, not one bit.'

That did it. A silver tear dropped out of her eye, and onto the parchment, smudging the signature. More and more cascaded down, faster and faster. Hermione grew sadder, and Pansy grew smugger. (A/N: Smugger? Is that even a word? I guess so, it doesn't say 'spellcheck'... Hmm...) With a slightly grateful look at Pansy for warning her, she stormed out, dropping the tear-soaked parchment on the floor.

She ran over to Draco, who looked concernedly at her. 'Hermione? What's wrong?'

She glared at him with her red, tear stained eyes.

'Once more you tell those lies to me, why can't you just be straight up with honesty?'

'What are you talking about?'

'We used to be friends. We used to be friends.'

With that, she knocked her butterbeer onto Draco's lap and ran out, her sobs echoing through the wind.

Draco didn't even clean up the butterbeer that was residing on his lap. 'What did I do?' he asked nobody. Pansy Parkinson pranced over and dropped a piece of parchment on the table, and walked away, smirking.

Draco glanced at the parchment, at the tear stains, then he read it.

'Oh no...'

He crumpled the diary entry into a ball and threw it as hard as he could.

'Hermione...'

Chapter 8 is finally OVAH. REVIEW! Tell me what you thought!!

Songs:

'I can't believe' – Stone Sour, I Can't Believe

'We've got each other and that's a lot' – Bon Jovi, Livin' On A Prayer

'Once more you tell those lies to me, why can't you just be straight up with honesty?' – Bullet For My Valentine, All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)

'We used to be friends' – The Dandy Warhols, We Used To Be Friends