Chapter 9: Never Had A Love Like This
Hermione's POV
The second Draco and I arrived back at school, we hurried into the building to find Harry. When we reached his dormitory, he was sitting on his bed, playing cards with Ron, acting like nothing had ever happened. Buzz! Leaving my phone off for sometime gave me a small amount of battery left.
R3ADH3AD98: HELLO HERMIONE!
"Ronald, I am standing right here. You don't need to text me!" I laughed. Even though Ron was silly sometimes, I had to admit that I missed him and Harry while I was away. Trying to put my friend's safety over my emotions, I started to explain to the boys about the Disney world kidnapping. They both started chuckling. "A Donald duck ice cream truck?" Ronald repeated, almost falling over he was giggling so hard.
R3ADH3AD98: LOL!
I didn't need to see his LOL, I could hear his LOL! "This is serious! Harry, your life is in danger," I pressed on. "Look, I know this sounds strange, but, you really have to trust us," Draco chimed in. At this, my friends lost it. "You? Trust you? Why should we trust you?" Harry asked through chuckles. "Because. I gave up my expensive suite, got away from Bellatrix, escaped a crowd of suspicious reporters, outsmarted a physco physic lady, and rode a broom stick 700 miles to find Hermione," Draco huffed. Harry and Ron became silent. "Touche," Ron said, accepting the adventures we had just returned from. Harry straightened up. "You're telling me Bellatrix is here?" Harry restated, putting on a fresh robe and digging his wand out from a pile of parchment. "Alright, I'll take care of it," he began nonchalantly. Poor Harry. It seems that he has to fight for his life 24/7. It really wasn't fair. Maybe I should…
Before the boys could talk me out of it, I was marching down the hall, wand at the ready. This was no longer a battle Harry would be fighting alone. This time, it was me. Girl against girl. I had a feeling it would be a different kind of cat fight, but inside I knew that Harry was worth every bit of pulled out hair or section of skin scratched by Bellatrix's sharp nails. Sniffing her cheap perfume led me right to my target. "We meet again, Miss Granger," she greeted me, peering at my make-up covered face, most likely smeared since the time it had been done by the Hollywood Professionals. "Aw. Did Hermione get an un-makeover?" she sneered. Shut up. "Does little helpless Hermione want her Magical Montana doll?" How did she know all of this? "Does Hermione want her muggle Mommy to come save her? Do you…mudblood?" Oh…that's it. It's on. Suddenly all of the emotion I had been bottling up inside me for the past 6 years were escaping. I was done. "You're messing with the wrong witch, bitch!" I exclaimed, abandoning my wand. With one swift punch, I knocked Bellatrix to the floor. I had a feeling that my days of being made fun of were long gone.
Draco's POV
1 Day Later
"Yeah, dad. Okay. I know. Yes. Alright. Bye," I muttered into Hermione's cell. As I just learned, our parents had been searching for us but had some idea of where we were due to the news circulating the U.S. Uh…oops! Good thing for us Dumbledore chose not to expel us due to what we had done for Madam Bridge's muggles and for Hermione's show-down with Bellatrix. I knew that punch was deadly…I just knew it!
Thankfully she was sent to Azkaban and our parents were safe and sound in Florida, actually getting along. Weird. The only thing that was left unsolved was Hermione's best friends' reaction to her new boyfriend. Me! I looked for my mirror in my cloak to do a sneak a peek at my hair, but ended up dropping my hand back at my side. What did it matter anymore? There were so many more important things in life…like…Hermione.
"Did I just see Draco reject a hair check?" Ron asked Harry from behind my table in the library "I think so," Harry confirmed, dumbfounded. I waited for my brain to come up with some clever comeback, but nothing came to mind. Even more surprisingly, I didn't want to think of anything to say back to them…except a few sentences to show them I was worthy of dating their friend. But wow, seriously, it was almost like asking permission from her parents. Actually, it was harder than asking permission from her parents. How could I gain their respect?
"Uh…Draco?" Ron got my attention, putting his half completed book work back on his workstation. "We just wanted to let you know that what you did for Hermione was pretty…cool," Harry concluded. His words sounded like they were hard to choke out, but his face seemed sincere. Now for the ultimate test. "Do you guys want to…sit down?" I invited them. Hermione glanced at them expectantly, most likely silently wishing that they would accept. They plopped down on the bench in front of us and grinned. From where I was sitting, I could just barley make out the text message on my girlfriend's phone.
R3ADH3AD98: YOU WERE RIGHT
"So were you," I told the boys, giving Hermione a squeeze. Not a single spell had been used, but I felt like the most magical gift had been given to me…love.
