Yay! This chapter is so long! It should last you for a couple of days, right? I have finals coming up so I'm not sure how much I can write after this. So, enjoy!

Reincarnated Love

Chapter 9- Hogsmead

Draco spent the entire month avoiding any close contact with Hermione Granger. He had gotten it into his head that she was the start of all the craziness that was going on with him. Maybe she was and maybe, just maybe, it was him. But that thought wasn't allowed to cross his mind. He would not allow such a thing to change his mind from it's current state. To him, Hermione was the cause and nothing would make him think differently.

Gwyn noticed his odd thoughts but she had little protests. In her opinion, anything that kept him from hating himself was a step in the right direction. She vowed to work on the hating Hermione thing but she needed to work through the current problem one step at a time.

Blaise spent his time moping about not being 'good enough for Gwyn' but he did attempt to cheer Malfoy up as well. Crabbe and Goyle barely noticed there was anything wrong but when they did, they tried to ignore it and give Malfoy some space. Spencer tried his best to help Malfoy. He convinced him to go to Hogsmead and they had some fun, if not a whole lot. Pansy attempted to help Malfoy as well. She got him to laugh a few times but that was his limit. At times he seemed to get better but then he'd fall back down again.

Hermione noticed how hard Malfoy tried to avoid her but that only made her want to know why. She tried to start small conversations but to no avail. He would give her one word answers and was unnaturally rude toward her. The hatred between the two only increased as the weeks passed. Hermione bombarded Ginny and Harry with her problems. They pretended not to care but deep down she knew that she was invading their space. She couldn't talk to Ron because, well, he was Ron. He would get mad about the whole kissing Malfoy thing so she refrained from telling him.

Harry and Ginny had no problem with helping Hermione through her problems, at first anyway. She would pour her doubts out on them and they would help her work through each one. After a while it did get a bit annoying but they didn't show it. They continued to help her and at times they convinced her to forget everything, at least for a while.

Hermione

Hermione trudged out of her Defense Against the Dark Arts class just to be called back. She turned to her teacher. Sirius stared at her intently. (A/n- I just remembered that I never explained how he's alive so I'll incorporate that somewhere, I just have to figure out where. I'm also starting a story about it later but I'm finishing this one first. Sorry to leave you in the dark about it.)

"Alright, you've got five minutes to spill. What's up?" he asked concerned.

Hermione sighed. "Do you really want to know?" He nodded. "It's a long story and I've got a free period next so you might want to prepare yourself," she warned. Sirius grinned.

"I've got nothing but time," he responded.

Hermione took a deep breath. "Okay, we should probably start at the beginning."

"That'd be a good idea," he noted with a slight smile.

She smiled back. "Right then, I kissed Malfoy." she looked at his expression of surprise. "Yeah, I know, I wasn't thinking. And apparently neither was he since he kissed back." Hermione glanced at Sirius again. "Afterwards, he was acting really weird. He seemed a bit distraught but I couldn't tell. Now he turns the other way whenever he sees me in the hallway. If I ask him a question, he sneers more than I would have thought humanly possible. He sits in the dark and… I have no idea what he does in the dark nor am I too sure I want to know. All in all he is really distant and odder than usual."

"Hmm."

"What do you think?"

"I think that that wasn't as long as you thought," Sirius said thoughtfully.

"You know what I meant."

He sighed. "It's hard to know for sure. I'd have to have his point of view to tell you anything of consequence." he looked at Hermione. "But I hope you are aware of what he is going through."

"What do you mean?"

"The death of your friend, Lisa hit home for him as well," Sirius informed. "That was why he was so determined to stay alive long enough to get Snape."

"Oh my god, I completely forgot. That was why he asked Remus how he could help the Order." Sirius just nodded. "Wait, so Snape killed Lisa?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, Snape was the one who informed Voldemort of her whereabouts, why, I still don't know. Basically, he was the one to blame for her death."

"Malfoy knew he couldn't kill Voldemort so the next best thing was Snape. That makes sense." Hermione stared off into space. "He almost got killed in the end. That's what he wanted, wasn't it?"

"To kill Snape and then die, yes. But Gwyn wouldn't let him do that so now he's paying the price." Sirius looked sad for a moment.

"That's why Payedon said there was something wrong." Sirius looked at her. "Malfoy's younger cousin was concerned about him and warned me about his odd behavior. She said that there was something seriously wrong. I didn't really get what she was talking about. She looked stressed."

Sirius sighed. "Well, if I were you I'd try to figure out what's wrong with him. I never really took interest in his family but he seems more intriguing than his father. He's probably worth the work."

Hermione smiled. "Thanks, I'll try that." With that she sped down the hall to find Harry and Ginny.

Draco

"Ugh, it won't get out," Pansy whined. Draco laughed at her as did Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, Spencer and Gwyn.

"Sorry," Gwyn said through laughter. "I didn't mean to give you such a vivid picture." Blaise rolled over laughing in the snow.

"You…haha…and…hahaha…Weasley…HAHAHAHA…" He couldn't stop laughing long enough to finish his sentence.

"Blaise you blow everything out of proportion!" Pansy scowled. She turned to Gwyn. "Do you really think that?"

Gwyn shrugged. "It's possible."

"Oh God! Eww me and Weasley. That is utterly impossible!"

"I don't know, Pansy, you two would make a great couple," Spencer said. He immediately ducked when Pansy sent a textbook flying his way.

The others burst into more fits of laughter. "We should have more freebees," Crabbe announced.

"Why, so you can have more jokes at my expense?" Pansy said with mock anger.

"Aww, don't be upset! You are not alone, Goyle eyes Luna every so often." Goyle's mouth dropped and everyone laughed harder.

"Well, Crabbe likes Ginny Weasley!" Goyle shouted louder than necessary. The others laughed even harder. Crabbe stared at Goyle vengeful, he had to get someone.

"What about Malfoy and Granger?" he said laughing dumbly. Everyone stopped and Draco stiffened. Goyle stared at Crabbe wide-eyed. "What?" he asked completely clueless.

Gwyn opened her mouth to say something but closed it two seconds later. Draco grew visibly paler and no one dared to say anything. Blaise sat up.

"Well, if you ask me, I think Luna looks pretty damn good for a sixth year," Blaise said grinning.

"You're a buffoon," Pansy said.

"I know, I can't help it."

Gwyn slid over to sit next to Draco while the others continued their laugh fest. "What's up?" she asked.

"I keep having these flashbacks," he said. "Every time I close my eyes I see something like going to the Order or killing Snape or when we found her, dead."

"Maybe there's something you need to remember so your mind is racking through all the memories to find it."

"Yeah, like how to have fun, I need remember that."

"Draco, don't worry, we are going to get through this," Gwyn reassured him.

"What if I didn't want to get through?"

Gwyn's face turned grim. "Death is not an option," she said firmly.

Draco sighed. "I know."

"Come on, it'll be Christmas soon and you are moping around. That is not the Christmas spirit."

"Right, Christmas spirit."

"At least try."

"Fine."

"Thank you."

Draco walked into the mini-kitchen of the dorm he shared with Hermione Granger. With a sigh, he opened the fridge and pulled out the Orange Juice. He turned and there stood Lisa in the doorway again. His mouth dropped at the same time as the orange juice. He backed up.

"Holy shit this is going too far," he said still staring at his beloved hallucination. "What the hell is going on?" he asked.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

Draco secretly thanked her for giving him a reason to turn away from the figure in the doorway. He looked to the other door at Hermione.

"Nothing," he mumbled looking at the other door again. Thank God, she's gone.

"Why are you sitting on the counter like that?"

Draco looked down and realized that he had backed up onto the counter, again. He quickly jumped down. "No reason."

Hermione scrutinized him and went to pick up the fallen juice. "Good thing this was closed," she muttered to herself, setting the juice on the counter. Draco pushed past her and felt the familiar feeling of longing surge through his body. He could still smell her vanilla scent when he slammed his door shut.

He flung onto the bed and buried himself in covers. What is wrong with me? I thought I was over this. Stupid depression! Stupid life! How the hell did I get so effing depressed anyway? Draco slowly drifted into his desperately hated slumber.

Dream/Flashback

Draco walked back to the hideout (for lack of a better term). He couldn't wait to see Lisa again. She was the love of his life and he hated being apart from her for any period of time. What could he say; he was a love struck teenager.

His day had been uneventfully dreary, as usual. He ran some boring errands and that was about it.

As he reached the steps of the cleverly hidden house, something in his stomach told him there was something amiss. He felt his insides churning with terror. Nevertheless, he walked toward the door. If there was something wrong, then he needed to hurry.

His considerably pale hand reached for the door knob. The door shook with his hand and he had to hold it steady with his other hand.

Draco walked into the dead silent house, scared out of his wits. I was dark, first problem. It was too quiet, second problem. The third and final problem, the house seemed to be empty.

Panic filled Draco's body as he walked toward the small kitchen. Nothing.

"Lisa!" he called frantically. No answer. No, no, no! Where is she? Maybe she went out, calm down. But he wouldn't calm down. There was no way for him to calm himself. "Lisa, where are you?!" he yelled. He checked each room carefully but there was no sign of her. Not until the last room. His stomach started doing frantic flips by the time he was at the last door.

Draco hesitated before lightly pushing the door open. He didn't have to open it any more nor did he have to search the room. Lisa was lying on the floor. Her body was stiff and her eyes were rolled to the back of her head.

Draco ran to her, horrified. No, no! Oh my GOD NO! He slid down to the floor, burying his face in his hands and cried. He cried more than humanly possible until he had no more tears.

He dared not leave her body; he held her limp hand as if it would suddenly come back to life. He was sobbing and hiccupping crazily until Dumbledore was next to him. (then he sobbed more)

"Mr. Malfoy, what happened?" He asked. Draco didn't even need to answer. Dumbledore saw her body lying on the floor and knew. Remus came in a minute later.

He studied Draco and then he looked at Lisa wide-eyed. Snape came in behind him.

"Severus, take Mr. Malfoy out please." Dumbledore said, not looking away for Lisa's body.

Snape went over to Draco and proceeded to pull him up. "No!" Draco yelled. "I can't leave her!" He started crying uncontrollably again and reached for his lost love. Snape ignored his desperate screams and dragged him out of the room. "No, NO!" he screamed as the tears streamed down his face.

"Malfoy! Pull yourself together!" Snape said when they were in the other room. He let go of Draco and he slumped to the floor. "How do you think your father would react to seeing you like this?"

"How the (insert profanity) should I know! And why would I care anyway?! He hated her! To him, she was just a filthy mudblood!" Draco screamed through tears.

Snape raised his eyebrows. "You were in too deep anyway." he mumbled.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Draco demanded.

"Nothing."

Silence

(A/n- I'm going to be telling both their thoughts for this part cause I don't feel like switching from one point of view to the other, it takes too much time.)

Draco woke up crying, sweating or both; he couldn't tell. His breathing was heavy. Why was this happening to him? What did he do to be plagued with those memories?

He slipped out of bed, yawning. He checked the time, grabbed clean clothes and jogged out of his room. He reached the bathroom and closed the door. Draco turned on the shower and jumped into the hot water. It was soothing. Gradually, his mood lightened.

By the time he was finished, he was happier than he had been in months. Why…he didn't know. He didn't really care either. Draco opened the door and almost bumped into Hermione as he did so. "Sorry." he said cheerily. "Wow, you look…ravishing." he said sarcastically.

Hermione's hair sat all over her head and she looked like a sick dog. She looked at Malfoy skeptically. "Really?" she asked in no mood for his sarcasm. I do not look, in the least bit, ravishing. He must be joking. : Or he's madly in love with you and thinks you look great no matter what. Hermione snorted at the latest comment from the voice in her head.

"Yes, kind of like Pansy's dog, Jojo." he laughed and walked out, ignoring her grumbled profanities.

Yup, he was in a good mood. Why the hell am I so happy? Usually when someone wakes from a nightmare, they are pretty upset. Wonderful, now I'm having mood swings! Perfect, just what I need!

He jogged down to the kitchen and fixed himself breakfast. "Lovely, I'm in the mood to cook. There is definitely something wrong with me," he said aloud. He took the whipped cream and squirted it on his pancakes.

"I'll say. When someone starts talking to themselves, they usually do have problems." Hermione said. Draco squirted the whipped cream at her.

"Shut up, you shouldn't be talking," he grumbled, but his mood wasn't dampened.

"Oh really, and why is that?" Hermione asked, wiping the whipped cream off her face.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" he asked. He looked at her and smiled mischievously.

She thought about it. "No, not really." Her thoughts had quickly gone to when she kissed him. Nope, she didn't want him to tell her.

"That's what I thought. You want some?" he nodded toward the pancakes. "They probably taste like crap but that's why I put whipped cream on them."

"I don't mind." She grabbed a plate and he piled on three pancakes. He made breakfast? Since when does Malfoy cook? Maybe it's poisoned. No, he wouldn't be eating it if it was. "So, what's the occasion?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you so nice today?"

"Honestly?" she nodded. "I have no idea. I just woke up and now I'm happy," he said staring off. "Should there be a reason?" Yes, there should. This is not normal, far from it.

"No, I was just wondering." She looked at him cautiously. I definitely need to keep him in a good mood. Maybe I can get something out of him, like what is wrong with him.

"Maybe it's the whole Christmas spirit thing," Draco said, seriously thinking about the question. Let's hope so.

"Maybe."

"You going to Hogsmead later on?" he asked.

"Probably, there's nothing to do around here," Hermione answered carefully. Clearly, she was baffled that he was holding up a conversation with her. Why did he ask that? Oh My God, is he going to ask me to go with him: Nope, that's just wishful thinking. : Shut up! Great, now I'm arguing with the voice in my head, perfect. "You?"

"Gwyn's forcefully pressuring me to go." He sighed. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"For what?" she looked at him, surprised.

"I've been kind of weird lately," he stared off again. Sorry? What the hell am I saying? "I just don't want you to think it's your fault." Oh My God! I'm going crazy! I can't even control what I'm saying! I need to stop this now.

Hermione looked at him open mouthed. "Um, okay." What does he want me to do? Should I say I forgive him? Maybe I should just get up and go. "Right, well, it's no big deal." Now I've got to get out of this room. "Well, I have to go."

She got up and put her plate in the sick, thoroughly washing it off. For some reason, Draco didn't want her to leave. Oh shit! Don't do it! Please don't keep her from leaving. Just stay seated, pretend to eat. He got up with his plate. Dammit! I can't control myself. This has got to be a hazard. He slowly placed his plate in the sink next to hers.

Hermione turned to face him, already blushing. They were so close. He breathed in her scent. She was frozen in her spot.

Drats! I can't move! I don't even want to move! Dangit, he smells good! Why does he have to smell so good? She moved a bit closer to him.

Shoot! She's not backing up. I was counting on that. God, she smells soo GOOD! He leaned down, screaming profanities at himself. Their lips touched and neither backed away.

Draco coiled his arms around her waist and Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck. Her body fit perfectly against his.

It was a full minute before it happened. The memories started pouring through Draco's mind. One memory lingered. In the memory, he was kissing Lisa. He remembered it so vividly, he could feel it. Or maybe it was kissing Hermione he was feeling.

The memory was what dampened his once cheerful mood. He backed away from Hermione more quickly than he intended, almost falling over in the process.

His eyes were wider, if possible, than hers. Oh my god! We did it again. I need to get out of here now, before I push my limit. Why didn't she pull away? Can't she tell I have no control over myself? "I…have to g..go," he stuttered, speeding out of the kitchen and into his room.

Hermione

Hermione winced as she heard Malfoy's door slam shut. Did that really just happen? She smiled to herself. Wait, why am I smiling? She dashed into her room. "Straightener, where is my straightener." she searched the room. "Aha!" She proceeded to straighten her hair. When it was paper thin and straighter than, well just straight, she took out the curling iron. She then lightly curled the ends of her hair.

(A/n- yeah I know, straighten hair just to curl it, weird. But it works with my hair.) Hermione checked her reflection. Oh my god! NO! I'm just going to Hogsmead with Harry, Ron and Ginny; I don't need to look amazing. She debated on whether she should where lip gloss or chapstick. Yes, but Draco will be there. Her voice teased her.

"But I don't care," she tried to convince herself. She chose the lip gloss. Obviously, she did care. Yes you do. the voice insisted. And so does he. What do you think he's doing in there? He's probably pacing, trying to convince himself that he doesn't care.

"You mean sort of like me?" Hermione said aloud. I think he likes you. Hermione snorted. "Funny." And you think I like him back? This time it was the voice who snorted. Don't have to. I know you like him.

Hermione glared at the mirror. "I hope you can see that." she sighed and walked out the door. To her deep, deep…deep delight, Malfoy was just about to leave when she caught up with him.

"Going to find Gwyn?" she asked casually. He looked at her wide-eyed.

"Yeah." He seemed to be still relatively cheery. "Listen, about earlier…I'm sorry, I…"

"No problem, it'll be our little secret." Why am I so happy? I should be shying away from him, trying to forget that kiss ever happened.

Malfoy stared at her for a moment. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked.

See, even he thinks it's weird that I'm not completely abashed about the earlier incident. "Yeah, I'm fine." Malfoy stared at her for another minute.

"Whatever you say," He muttered and continued walking.

"When we get back, we have to finish those decorations," Hermione said absentmindedly.

"Yeah," Malfoy agreed. "That should be loads of fun." He looked at her hesitantly. "You look good with your hair down. You should wear it like that more often." He spotted Gwyn and rushed toward her without looking back.

Hermione stood where he left her in complete awe. Did he just comment on my hair? No, scratch that. Did he just say something nice about my hair: I told you, he likes you. : Shut up! You're ruining the moment.

Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny walked around window shopping. Actually Hermione and Ginny were window shopping, Harry and Ron were just following.

"I'm starving guys!" Ron complained. "Can we stop walking around and get something to eat?"

"Fine Ron. Don't be such a baby." The four of them headed to the Three Broomsticks to get something to eat. They sat in a cozy booth in the corner. Ginny sat by the window across from Hermione and Harry sat next to her across from Ron.

"Finally, I'm starving," Ron said. Ginny shook her head.

"You are such a nuisance," she said. Ron just grinned in reply. The waiter, a tall young guy in his twenties, came to their table.

"Hi, I'm John, I'll be your server for today. Can I get you your drinks?" He smiled politely at the four. They all ordered butterbeers and the waiter rushed to the next table.

Harry and Ron launched into some argument that Hermione and Ginny decided to ignore. Hermione stared out the window deep in thought. Ginny stared at her trying to determine whether her mood was good or bad. Hermione watched as snowballs hurled passed the window. Coincidentally, Malfoy and his friends were the ones throwing the snowballs. She watched them dodge and throw snow everywhere. When one of them got hit, the others would laugh until their sides hurt.

Malfoy dodged a snowball and it hit some poor first year. Of course, they all started laughing but stopped when that first year threw a monster snowball at Blaise, who chased the poor kid until he cried. Hermione even thought she heard the kid say he peed his pants. At that, they all started laughing again. Goyle said something about eating and Malfoy threw a snowball at his face. They all burst into fits of laughter but eventually, they headed for the Three Broomsticks.

That was when Malfoy saw Hermione. He grinned at her, his face red from the cold. She was caught off guard but she couldn't help smiling back anyway.

"You two seem to be getting along," Ginny whispered. She was leaning across the table so that she was closer to Hermione.

"I guess so," Hermione said watching Malfoy walk toward the door. She looked at Ginny. "I have to tell you what happened earlier," she said. "Later though." They both glanced at Ron. "I kind of feel bad about not telling him."

"Don't. You need to wait until we figure this out before telling him," Ginny whispered. "And plus, you don't think Malfoy told all his goons, do you? Of course not! He would only tell Gwyn, for sure. Maybe Blaise or Pansy, but that's it."

"I guess you're right." Hermione sighed.

"Wait, is what happened earlier why you are in such a good mood?" Ginny asked.

Hermione bit her lip hesitantly. "Yeah, sort of."

"Here are your drinks." John set the butterbeers down on the table. "Are you guys ready to order or do you need more time?"

"We're ready." They ordered their food and John went to the next table.

Hermione stared off again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Malfoy and his friends ordering, two tables over. Why do I even care where he is: Because YOU…LIKE…DRACO…MALFOY: Oh God, I thought you were sleeping or something. : There you go again with your wishful thinking: Ugh, Do you ever sleep: Ha, NO!

"Hermione, you okay?" Ron asked.

"Huh, oh yeah. I'm fine." She looked at Ginny, who was laughing mutely. "What?"

"Nothing. You just looked like you were daydreaming." She laughed harder. Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Don't you dare," she said teasingly.

"Don't I dare what?" Ginny said, still laughing.

"I know what you're thinking and it's no good." They both burst into laughter. Harry and Ron looked at them but decided not to ask.

The four finished their lunch and headed back out into the snow. Ginny and Hermione walked arm-in-arm while Harry and Ron walked ahead of them.

"So…How bout that story," Ginny said casually. Hermione sighed but couldn't fight the smile that spread across her lips. I give up! There is no way that I can fight this! It's sickening!

"Well, this morning he was all happy for no reason. He seemed to be the old Malfoy again until…" She thought about the events of her morning. "Actually, until breakfast. He made pancakes. I didn't know he could cook either," Hermione assured Ginny. "We were talking, sort of and when I got up to leave, he followed me. Then…we kissed, again." She didn't even bother to hide her smile.

Ginny grinned. "This so cute!" she exclaimed.

"What?"

"How you two seem not to notice that you're falling in love."

Hermione stopped. "I didn't want to kiss him. Then, out of nowhere, I did, want to, I mean. But I hate this feeling I get. I feel like I can't control my body anymore. My thoughts are completely separate from my body."

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.

"The whole time, I kept telling myself not to kiss back, to pull away and go but my body didn't listen to me." Hermione looked at her friend. "I don't get it."

"Hmm, I think that the rest of you knows you like him but you mind still needs to be convinced." Hermione stared at her with disbelief.

"Since when did you get so good with romantics?" Ginny shrugged.

"I don't know. But I think you two make a good couple. Or at least you would if your minds would cooperate with your bodies." she laughed.

"If only," Hermione agreed.

Alrighty, I'm done! Not the whole story, of course, but this chapter. Next one will be with Ron and Pansy 'cause I haven't done anything with them in a while. YAY, MISTLETOE!