"That's a tree," Hermione commented awkwardly.
After an hour of walking, she had built up some sort of excitement.
And if they were to stand by a tree, why not the one two hundred feet ago?
Why this tree? She felt like there must be something about it- anything.
Hermione slowly circled the tree, and on her third round she found it.
Engraved onto the lower bark of the tree was DM + HG.
She widened her eyes, backing up onto an uneven tree root.
She started to fall, but he easily caught her.
Draco's hands were still around her waist, supporting her back.
Hermione quickly escaped from his half-embrace, not looking him in the eye.
She stared at the tree, a ghost of a delightful smile on her lips.
"It reminds me of when I was little," she said quietly.
He was the perfect picture of an attentive listener, leaning on the tree.
His eyes remained on hers, and she continued to look at the tree branches.
Anything, everything but him. Anything...
"There was a park down the road, and my dad and I went one time."
He was still, ever still, watching her completely.
"The swing, the metal one, was broken. I was crying."
"That's not good," commented Draco.
"Dad took us to the store down the street, and we bought a swing and two ropes."
"Making a new one?" he suggested.
Hermione ignored him, or rather, attempted to do so.
"Yes, we made a new one and tied it to a tree...just like this one."
He was silent for a moment, wondering what a guy was supposed to say in response to this.
"Interesting," he commented.
"Interesting? That's all you can think of?" she asked incredulously.
"Well-" he started to say.
"You can carve our intials on a tree, but all you can actually say is interesting?"
"Hermione-"
"I liked it better when you called me Granger," she informed him.
"Why? It's practically an insult!" Draco protested.
Hermione said softly, "You were the only one who called me that."
"Well, Potter and Weasley, they don't just call you 'Mione all the time. Right?"
"Well, wrong, actually," she replied.
Draco shrugged, but she wanted to continue, to talk about it.
"They hardly ever talked to me, ever since the war. The summer. Something."
"That's rough," he commented.
"Yeah," agreed Hermione, "It is."
"You said 'talked,' though, so do they speak with you now?" asked Draco hopefully.
She gave out a bittersweet laugh, thinking of cruel jokes and the irony of this situation.
"They want to talk about you. Never me, but Quidditch. The war. You."
"I'll be your friend," he said to her. "How do you say it...we'll be BFFs!"
Hermione rolled her eyes, but he was at least making her feel somewhat better.
Strange, that she was happier around Draco these days than her own...friends.
"Sure," she said sarcastically, giving him the most faking smile she'd ever given.
"You're lying," he informed her. "You look absolutely miserable. Just saying."
"I'm happy," she argued.
"Hermione," he said slowly, "What would I have to do to convince you that you are not happy?"
She shrugged nonchalantly, trying to ignore him.
But you can't really ignore someone when you're the only two people there.
She thought over his last question, then chuckled silently to herself.
"This is progress, you're happier. Laughing. Now...what's so funny?" Draco asked.
"To convince me that I'm sad...I used to always buy these muggle necklaces..."
"Were they cursed?" he asked, but she rolled her eyes in reply.
"Mood necklaces. If it turned blue, you were sad. Black was angry, and so on."
"Did they really work?"
"Of course not, they changed color depending on your skin's temperature. I knew that, but I still believed them."
"If you knew, then why..." Draco trailed off, feeling a little confused.
"Because I wanted to believe in them. Actually, there's this one spell I could try- it looked like it could work."
"What, the magical mood teller charm?" he teased her.
"Mood temperature charm," she corrected him, "and stop trying to cheer me up.
"Why not?"
"I'm not happy, therefore I don't want to be happy," Hermione informed him.
Draco raised an eyebrow, saying, "That makes no sense. At all. I thought you were happy."
"I changed my mind, as I'm being too annoyed to be happy. Besides, this is better. More...me."
"So you want to be sad?"
"That is correct."
"You're strange, you know that?" he said.
"I could say the same thing about you," she shot back.
Draco softened, then said, "What's up with you, anyway?"
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.
I suppose it was her turn to be confused at that moment.
"You were all happy and...just vigorous, I guess, or trying to be, and now you're insisting that you're sad."
She avoided looking him in the eye, choosing to stare at the ground, rather than the tree.
The tree held too many bad memories. Good ones, yes, but mostly bad ones.
"I don't know what's wrong with me," she whispered.
It was strange, but also, and above all, it was the very truth that shook her to the core.
