Chapter X - Back to the Room

It was just about eight o'clock and Hermione Granger was cautiously making her way through the castle to the seventh floor corridor to meet Draco. She had thought up the excuse of running to the library for a book if she met anyone in the corridors, but thankfully she didn't pass anyone who might ask her what she was doing. Sixth years were allowed in the corridors until nine o'clock in the evening. As such, she had one hour until she would be breaking rules. With a light heart, Hermione rounded the last corner and approached the long expanse of blank wall which she knew concealed the Room— and Draco. She quickly looked over her shoulder and approached the wall. The old door appeared after three passes. With a thudding heart, Hermione opened the door.

It was the same room as before—the bed was still a mess and unmade. It was as if the Room had been saving it just for them, acting as the bridge between the two houses in this mad turn of events. Hermione had certainly begun to have a soft spot for this particular Room, simply because of the memories connected with it. She didn't light the fire because the Room was lit with moonlight from the open curtains. Moving from the doorway, Hermione sat on the bed and kicked off her shoes. With a small huff, she languidly fell back and stared up at the draped canopy of the day bed. She closed her eyes and waited, remembering the last time she was lying in the bed. It seemed wrong that she was wearing clothes now, but she wasn't about to strip.

After a couple of minutes, discomfort crept into Hermione, weighing her down in the pit of her stomach. She opened her eyes and guiltily checked the clock; it was a quarter past eight. Trying to placate her thoughts, she said to herself that maybe Draco had been held up by Peeves or even maybe one of the teachers. Yes, that must be it, she thought. It was still possible yet that Draco had been finally caught by Filch and his wretched cat. Even so, panic seemed to flood through her. It was now eight twenty-five. Hermione's confidence in Draco and what they had shared seemed to fall to pieces as the minutes ticked by on the clock in the dark room. The small room now seemed cold and distant, not comforting in the slightest. Hermione lay on the bed, wondering how it was possible to completely come apart after something which had only just begun yesterday. It seemed completely mad to think that Draco would come now. It just became apparent to Hermione then that this was his way of getting rid of her. Now he wouldn't have to do it in person.

Well—she got the message. Draco had played his cards well and she had fallen for it, fallen quite badly. Hermione cleared her eyes and sat up, gripping the edge of the daybed with her hands, as if to try to displace some of the hurt. She sat there for awhile, going over everything as she had a tendency of doing. She didn't want to think about the moments they had shared now, it was too painful but it seemed as though she couldn't help herself. She checked the clock again—it was eight fifty-five. Draco had made his point, and Hermione had just enough time to get back to the dormitory. She grabbed her wand and walked out of the room, not looking back.

Hermione walked back to her room, not paying attention to anything and just crawled into her bed. Yesterday felt like it had been centuries ago. So much had changed. Hermione was too emotionally exhausted to cry, she just felt empty and diminished. Thankfully she fell asleep before she could get herself worked up any further.

The next morning Hermione didn't immediately know why she felt so terrible. But then it hit her. Well, she thought, I survived Ron so I suppose I can get through this. But—she couldn't help herself add, Being with Draco had felt right! It had been different and … she stopped her though there. She wouldn't think that.

The moment Ginny saw her down in the common room Ginny knew something was wrong. Instead of being on the offensive however, Ginny took one look at Hermione's face and read the hurt etched on it.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Hermione shook her head. She didn't think that she would be up to reiterating the previous night's events just yet. The two girls didn't talk as they made their way down to the Great Hall, and Hermione was just dreading the moments until she stepped into the room. As they were coming down the marble staircase she didn't see any sign of him in the entrance hall. This either meant that he was already in there or that he wasn't. Ginny reached out and briefly squeezed Hermione's hand and led her into the noisy hall. Immediately, Hermione's eyes darted across to the Slytherin table. She didn't see any sign of his white blonde hair anywhere. Relief and disappointment flushed across her face simultaneously— even after yesterday, it seemed that she still wanted to see him, and at the same time did not. Quite cross with herself, she walked to the Gryffindor table without another backwards glace at the far table, sat with her back to it.

Soon after they sat down, Ron and Harry joined them. Ron sat next to Lavender who squealed and threw her arms around him once he sat down.

Harry however sat down next to Hermione and said,

"I haven't seen you since Friday, have you been holed up in the library all weekend?"

She gave him a tired smile and gave a half-truth. "Nearly, I had quite a bit to do for Ancient Runes and then there was that Moonstone essay for Slughorn."

Harry grimaced. "Yeah I know that one kept me up all night in the common room."

Hermione shifted her foot and hit her bag under the table and she remembered that she had something to give Harry back. She reached down and pulled out the old piece of parchment and said,

"Harry, it's a long story but I have something to give back to you."

Harry, who had been reaching for a jug of pumpkin juice, looked around. His eyes widened as they fell upon the parchment now in Hermione's hands.

"Hermione, how did you get that?" Harry asked in astonishment.

"I didn't go rooting around your things, if that's what you mean. I will tell you later, but not now."

Harry looked around and noticed that Lavender and Parvati were looking quizzically at the two of them.

Harry leaned in towards her and quietly asked, "Alright, but does this have anything to do with you disappearing for the entire weekend?"

Hermione was saved from answering because just then, about a hundred owls swooped in from up above. The sound of their wings beating the air sounded about the already chattering hall. A slight, grey owl came soaring down carrying her usual copy of the Daily Prophet. Hermione reached forward and untied the paper from the outstretched owl's leg. The owl then rearranged its feathers in an official manner and took flight once more. The sight of the owl sent a pang of recollection through her as she remembered her time with Draco in the Owlery. Hermione abruptly got up and grabbed her bag; she needed to leave. Harry and Ginny looked at her questioningly, but she just gave them a quick smile and muttered something about needing to go to the library before Ancient Runes.

Hermione's thoughts surrounded her like a fog and she didn't notice whoever passed her in the hallways or even where she was headed particularly. Instead of going to the library however, her feet led her to her Ancient Runes classroom. She was the first one there and glad that she could have a couple of minutes so she could collect herself before the rest of the sixth years began to come for their first period.

The lesson was quite uneventful—Hermione immersed herself into the material, trying to take her mind off the constant questions and things which badgered her throughout the class period. Draco thankfully wasn't in Ancient Runes, but Hermione knew that she would have to see him today. Monday's for her meant Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Defense Against the Dark Arts with a double period of Potions at the end of the day. This meant that she would see him twice, in Arithmancy and in Potions. If she were a lesser person, or someone who didn't have her diligence, she would have skived off of both of those classes. However, she was a Gryffindor who took pride in surviving difficult situations. Yes, she would be uncomfortable sitting through those two periods, but she had to do it; and that was that.

The hours passed a bit more quickly than Hermione would have liked, but she soon found herself in front of her Artithmancy class with the other sixth year students. When Professor Vector opened the door to let them into the class, Hermione quickly looked around to see if Draco was there. He wasn't. Hermione filed into the class and sat in her usual seat next to Ernie Macmillan. Draco did not show up at all for the entire lesson. Hermione began to wonder if she was the reason for this. You weren't supposed to miss classes unless you had fallen ill. She herself had only missed class on a couple of occasions. There had been the time she had added cat hair to the Polyjuice Potion she had made during her second year and had to be in the hospital wing for awhile. There also had been the time she had missed a Charms class back in her third year. She had slept through Charms because she had taken on all the courses offered at Hogwarts and as such, met her limit and slept through a lesson on Cheering Charms. If they had been in their third year now, Hermione would have thought that skipping a class would have been something Draco wouldn't think twice about. Now, however, she thought differently. Hermione saw him differently. He had been kinder, sweet even when they had been together. So why was she in this position now? What had happened? How had she let herself get into his rut?

Arithmancy ended and Draco hadn't shown up. When the class filed out of the room, she noticed that Nott and Zabini were muttering to themselves as the rest of the class left for break. And, was she imaging it or were they looking at her? Hermione quickly gathered her things and briskly walked off towards the common room.

If it hadn't been the middle of November, Hermione might have wanted to go for a walk in the grounds to clear her head. But as it was, it was far too chilly to be out there unless she had a reason. She instead walked back up to the common room and snagged a seat by the fire. The common room was nearly empty. The majority of the younger students had class during this period, but the fifth, sixth and seventh years had more breaks. Just as she sat down, another figure moved in and sat across from her. It was Ginny, who was looking at her with a shrewd expression. Hermione could guess why Ginny was giving her that look, but Hermione wasn't in the mood for self-pity.

"Hermione what happened?"

She sighed and went through the previous day's occurrences, beginning with her trip to the library.

"He stood you up; I don't believe it!" Ginny said indignantly. Ginny's wand emitted red sparks which singed small hole in the chair she was sitting in. Hermione looked around the common room and said, "Ssh, Gin—not so loud."

Ginny heeded her and looked concernedly at her. Then she said slightly more quietly, "But how are you? I know this is entirely my fault for buying you that perfume to begin with…"

"No, no, no. This is my fault—I fell for all his tricks. I thought he was being sincere. But he's a Slytherin and obviously knows his lines. I'm just mad at myself for not seeing through him, I just really thought…" Hermione couldn't finish her sentence. What she had been holding back for the entire day finally broke free. She could feel the familiar wetness behind her eyes and the fuzzy feeling constructing her throat. Ginny immediately got up and hugged her, which sent her into a full wave of sobs. Hermione always hated when she cried, she just felt so stupid to get so emotional. Now, she despised herself for crying over him, for allowing him to have that much of an effect on her.

After a few moments, Hermione realized that she needed to get to DADA soon. Snape would surely take points away from Gryffindor if she was even a minute late. Slowly, she got herself hiccupping and said bye to Ginny, who looked more concerned than ever. After assuring Ginny that she would be fine, Ginny left through the portrait hole. Hermione then went upstairs to calm down and quickly fix her bloodshot eyes. Soon after, she wearily set off for Snape's classroom, glad that she wouldn't be seeing Draco.

Hey guys, sorry for the long wait (again). I hope you like where I'm going with this. I just want to say that this will end happily; I didn't want to write a story where Hermione ends up miserable. Anyway, please review, I always love to hear your comments. If you haven't written a story and therefore have never gotten a review, you don't know how nice it is to read a comment!

PS: new chapters in the making for BOTH of my other stories