A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and encouragement - you guys are all awesome! Enjoy this next chapter and all its drama.
Hermione ran through the hallways, barely paying attention to where she was running. All she felt was a desperate need to get away - far away - from everything. All that yelling and those accusatory glares...how could her friends treat her like that? Deep down, a part of her admitted that she probably would've have reacted similarly in their position, but she still felt betrayed and alone.
Where was Draco?
She hated to admit that she wanted him - needed him - but it was the truth, especially after what had just happened in the Gryffindor common room. Her pace slowed as her sobs started to make it difficult to run and breathe, and she stood for a moment, trying to take deep breaths and calm herself enough to get her bearings and direct herself towards her Head Girl common room. Chances were good that she would find Draco there, and she needed him to hold her. She would never admit that he was right, that they should have kept their relationship secret, but maybe he had a point.
"What's wrong, dear?" a matronly voice startled her, and she spun to see a couple portraits on the wall peering at her in concern. They were dressed in ancient-looking robes.
"No...nothing," she sputtered. "Thank." Without waiting for a response, she rushed away before the ladies could push her for answers.
Their common room wasn't too far, and Hermione hurriedly wiped at the tears still on her cheeks. She didn't want Draco to see her as a complete mess - sobbing, betrayed, hurt - and so she tried to pull herself together.
"Hermione?"
She spun at the sound of Draco's voice coming from behind her. "Draco?" she asked, hurriedly scrubbing at her face with Draco's scarf and hoping that her eyes weren't too puffy. "What are you doing?"
"Heading to our common room," he drawled, swaggering up to her, his typical smirk on his face. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of her. "Everything okay?" His questioning gaze dropped to his scarf still clutched in her hands, and he took it from her and wound it loosely around her neck.
"Yea-yes," she lied, then shook her head. "No. Nothing's okay."
His face softened for a second - looking concerned - before his smirk reappeared. "How about I help make it all better?" He swayed closer to her and put his hands on her hips, pulling her up against him.
"Draco," Hermione protested, pulling back away from him. "I'm upset. This really isn't the time…"
"It's the perfect time," he countered, his eyes darting to the side before returning to her lips with an intense gaze. "You're sad - I can fix that."
Hermione hesitated. Part of her wanted to tell him to back off, to both leave her alone and hold her, but another part of her was responding to the heat in his eyes and wanting to lose herself in his lips and just forget about everything.
"Well, what do you say?" Draco asked, his mouth close enough that his warm breath caressed her cheek tantalizingly.
In response, Hermione ran her hand through his soft, finger-length hair, and then pulled his face to hers in a passionate kiss. She arched up against him, and he wrapped his arms completely around her waist, crushing her to him in what felt like desperation mingled with passion.
"Well, well, well," a coolly amused voice sounded. Hermione jerked back, and then stumbled as Draco released his grip on her. She caught herself with a hand on the stone wall, and surveyed the scene in front of her with confusion. Draco stood, arms crossed in front of him, and a forced smirk on his face. His silvery eyes, however, were guarded and refused to meet hers. Next to him stood Blaise Zabini - his face as cruel and arrogant as ever - and Pansy Parkinson hovered inches from Draco's other side, glancing anxiously between him and Hermione. "I honestly didn't think you could do it, Draco."
Draco shrugged. "Told you I could." His voice was quiet.
"Look at her," Pansy shrilled with a satisfied smile. "She's pathetic - you have her drooling over you."
The realization started to sink in to Hermione, and she began to tremble with a mixture of anger and hurt as the Slytherins continued their conversation.
Blaise clapped his hand on Draco's shoulder. "Consider the bet won - you're undefeated."
"It was never a question." Draco still refused to look at her, standing there and feeling her world collapse around her.
The words cut into her like little sharp knives, and she flinched back at the confirmation that this had indeed been all a game, and that Draco had played her expertly.
"And now, you can be done with this Mudblood filth," Blaise continued, tossing out the slur casually. "Butterbeers on me? I'm sure you want to wash the taste of impurity out of your mouth, and this calls for a celebration."
"Ooh, yes, Draco, let's go celebrate," Pansy squealed, grabbing Draco's arm.
"How...how could you?" Hermione finally found her voice and spat the accusation at Draco as he started to turn away. "You despicable...ferret...coward disgrace for a man!" Jerking the scarf from around her neck, she threw it at his feet. "Stay away from me." Her voice was cold. She turned away, fumbling for her wand in her robes as the tears started to spill down her cheeks. Pointing the wand back towards the Slytherin trio, she mumbled the incantation for the bat-bogey hex under her breath, and felt a thrill of satisfaction at the chorus of startled yelps accompanied by the sound of beating wings.
The satisfaction wore off moments later, and then the crushing despair hit.
…
Draco glared miserably at the wall of the hospital wing. One hand pinched the bridge of his nose - Madame Pomfrey had promised that it would help reduce the aftereffects of the bat bogey hex and halt the bleeding, but he just felt ridiculous.
"Thupid Mubbood," Blaise, on the next bed over, muttered sullenly. His hand was also pinching his nose, but Draco could still see trails of dark blood leaking out down his face.
To his surprise, the slur made Draco's blood boil. "Leave off," he growled. He couldn't handle hearing Blaise call her that, and especially not after what they had just done to her. She deserved that much respect, at the very least.
"Whaddre we gonna do to her?" Pansy broke in. She had taken the brunt of the hex, and one of the bats had broken her nose on the way out. Madame Pomfrey had fixed her up okay, but now she was sulking and apparently plotting revenge. Not that Pansy was intelligent enough to come up with anything impressive, but Draco still felt the urge to protect Hermione from further harm.
"Nothing," Draco ordered, letting go of his nose and sliding off the bed. "We deserved it."
Both Blaise and Pansy looked at him like he had grown a third head.
"What?" he asked, glaring at them both and daring them to question him.
"Wat's your poblem? She's a Mobbood," Blaise muttered through his bloody nose, his voice still sounding distorted. "This was the plan."
Draco punched his fist into the wall, then cursed as the impact sent sharp pains through his hand and arm. "I know," he muttered sullenly. "And it worked perfectly." Then why did it make him feel so awful? "I have to go," he finally mumbled to the other Slytherins, ignoring their confused looks and the glint of suspicion in Blaise's eyes as he stalked out of the room.
He had to find Hermione, and he had to find her now, had to explain before things got even worse. Not that he expected her to forgive him - in her place, he would never let go of his pride long enough to forgive someone who had treated him the way he had treated her - but he still had to explain, even if it killed him.
He stalked through the halls of Hogwarts, his scowl enough to make all the first-years he passed cringe and duck out of his way, but he barely noticed them. His attention was completely focused on Hermione - finding her, and making her understand.
The common room was empty when he burst in, ignoring the complaints of the medieval couple as he swung the portrait hard against the wall.
Hermione's door was slightly ajar, and her room was meticulously clean and showed no signs that she had been there recently.
For some reason, her absence just made his growing fury rage even higher. How dare she not be around when he was planning on apologizing to her? He, Draco Malfoy, was willing to apologize and Hermione 'I'm-better-than-everyone' Granger couldn't even manage to be around?
His fist met the wall, and he cursed even more loudly as his already sore hand protested and sent sharp, agonizing pains that took nearly a minute to fade into a dull ache.
An idea occurred to him, and he stormed out of the common room, heading towards the tower. Hermione would be there - he was sure of it. It was sort of their spot, and it would be fitting to find her there, to explain what had happened.
The stairs seemed endless, and his breathing became more harsh as he refused to slow down his reckless race up towards where he was sure Hermione was waiting. A million thoughts ran through his head, too fast for him to sort through them, and it only got worse as he neared the top of the stairs.
She wasn't there. Draco stood, gasping for breath, and felt his heart drop through the floor in disappointment even as his temper surged even higher. He had been so positive that she would be there.
"What are you doing here?" a cold voice demanded from the shadows. "I told you to stay away from me."
Spinning around, Draco faced a very angry looking Hermione. Her furious expression was only slightly ruined by the tear tracks glistening on her cheeks. "Hermione, I-"
"Don't call me that," she hissed, taking a step back away from him.
"Let me explain," he ordered, his voice growing louder. "I can explain!"
"How?" Hermione demanded furiously. "How could you possibly explain how you lied to me, and used me, and then threw me away like I was nothing?"
"It was this bet," Draco tried, taking a step towards her. "I had to save face in front of the Slytherins, and this was the only way to do it."
Hermione recoiled, and her eyes filled with a new batch of tears. "I...do you know what hurts the most, Malfoy?" she hissed. "It's that I really thought you had changed, and that this was all real. Despite everything you had done, I thought...I just thought…" Her voice trailed off and she stifled a sob, covering her mouth with her hand.
"It was real." The words were soft, and Draco could barely believe he was saying them.
"Leave me alone."
"No," Draco decided immediately. "I'm not leaving until you believe me."
"Then enjoy rotting in this tower." Hermione turned to go.
"Look, I risked everything for you," Draco yelled at her back. "Do you know what would have happened if my father had caught wind of this?"
"Oh, no," Hermione turned back to face him, her face tight with anger. "You do not come here to yell at me or to blame me for all of this. This is all on you."
"Hermione…" He reached out towards her, but she whirled around and started stomping down the stairs before he could touch her, leaving him alone and seething in the tower.
…
It took Hermione three tries to choke out the password to the Gryffindor common room before the portrait hole swung open - maybe more out of pity than anything else, since her words were intelligible. However, she was finally able to stumble into the common room, tears still blurring her vision.
She didn't know if she was doing the right thing, but she didn't know where else to go, and she really needed her friends right now.
"Hermione?" Ginny's voice broke into her thoughts, and she felt her friend put an arm around her shoulders and lead her towards a seat. "What's wrong?"
"You were right - you were all right," Hermione sobbed, trying to wipe the tears off her cheeks. "Dr-Malfoy...it was all a game to him."
"Oh, 'Mione, I'm so sorry," Ginny tried to comfort her.
"Do you want us to go hex him?" a male voice broke in.
"Or kill him?"
Hermione looked up to see a concerned, though slightly relieved looking Harry and a red-faced, angry Ron perched on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
For a second, Hermione considered it, but then remembered that she would probably lose her position as Head Girl if she sanctioned violence. "No," she said, her voice breaking. "Besides," she added, with a slight smile despite the crushing despair, "his nose still probably hasn't healed all the way from the bat bogey hex I cast."
"You did?" Harry asked, grinning back at her. "That prick deserved every single bat."
"It's not enough," Ron seethed, his hands clenching into fists. "I'm going to throttle him in his sleep for touching you with his filthy hands…"
"Ron, calm down," Ginny ordered. "'Mione, what do you need?"
"N-nothing," Hermione took a deep breath. "Just...just my friends back?" She glanced up and forced a weak smile, and was relieved to see Harry and Ginny smile back at her. Ron still had steam coming out of his ears, but his fury didn't feel directed at her as much as at Malfoy.
"Anything you need," Harry agreed immediately.
"Especially if there is hexing involved." Ron's fingers twitched towards his wand.
"Maybe later," Hermione cautioned, but felt better to hear that her friends were on her side. And a little bit of harmless revenge couldn't be that bad...
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