A/N: Hey guys! Another quick update, yay:-) So last chapter was action-packed, this time, our two hopeless lovers finally figured out a little bit of their feelings, and thus marking us getting closer, but yet still so far, to the long awaited kiss! (hopefully, you expected that to come at some point in the story).
Chapter 10
Draco's head was racing with mixed thoughts as soon as he woke up that morning. He could barely sleep due to the fact that he had just saved who he thought was his mortal enemy just the previous night. There was no way to express what he felt when he saw Hermione looking at him so frightened and helpless...and it made his blood boil everytime he thought about Vance (who's memory was modified now, thanks to Hermione and had no record of the incident whatsoever). It was no longer clear to him how he felt about the brunette. Was it friendship? was it more? he couldn't tell, but he had the feeling that it was no longer hatred.
After taking his time that morning (he no longer had Pansy to look forward to), he headed down to the common room and so busy in his own thoughts he didn't see a blur of red suddenly come at him. The next thing Draco knew, he was against the wall, hands curled tightly on the front of his robes as he was staring into a pair of angry blue eyes.
"What did you do to Hermione?" Ron yelled at the blonde.
Hermione was standing only a few feet away, dressed and looking frightened.
"I saved her life!" Draco pushed Ron off of him. "So this is the thanks I get? You're really rude, you know that?" he spat at the red-head.
"I saw you two last night," Ron continued breathlessly. "All over each other...I knew you had something for her..."
"It wasn't his fault!" Hermione tried to say, but Ron glared at her and she fell silent.
"Look, I was just saving her from that pervert Vance McGill," Draco said calmly, "You know, the fourth year Ravenclaw? He was trying to rape Granger for your information. He has quite a reputation of doing that."
Ron stared at him, then turned to Hermione, who nodded in agreement.
"Rape?" he repeated in a distant voice.
"Yes, Weasley, rape," Malfoy continued irritably. "You know, when you fuck someone without permission."
Ron chose to ignore the smart remark, instead demanding the blonde, "So why'd you save her? You like her now, or something?"
Draco gave him a cold look. "How I feel about Granger is none of your business," he snapped.
Ron glared back at him before turning on Hermione, who flinched instinctively. He headed toward the stairs and down, saying nothing else. There was silence in the room as Draco glanced at Hermione, and immediately noticed a purple-blackish bruise on her neck as he did so. Before he could question her about it, she had whipped out of sight in the blink of an eye.
The bell then rang, signaling the time to get to class. Draco heaved a sigh before heading down at normal pace to the entrance hall, wondering if Ron was the one who gave Hermione the bruise. He was interrupted from his train of thought when he heard someone sobbing very hard as he stepped into the Dungeons. Shivering, he headed toward that sound and instead of going straight, he turned to a dead end corridor and found Hermione, sitting on the cold floor and sobbing into her hands. She was oblivious to the fact that Draco was standing there, and didn't even notice when the blonde sank down next to her, waiting until she was done.
"You don't deserve that," he told her quietly.
Hermione jumped when she heard the voice and turned to see Draco sitting next to her. She had been so blinded by Ron, her emotions and what happened last night that she just realized that she was on the floor crying, and Draco woke her up to it. As she looked at him, she realized that he was staring at her. Hard. The look in his eyes was unknown, and shockingly, it made her feel a little secure.
"Weasley did your neck like that, I'm guessing?" Draco asked her.
Hermione broke eye contact and looked at her nails, which Draco took as a yes.
He sighed heavily as he ran his hands through his sleek hair. "You can't keep letting him treat you like that."
"But I don't know what else to do!" Hermione said in exasperation, her hands plopping on her lap hopelessly as she gazed up at the tan ceiling. "I get so scared of him when he rears up at me, and then he grabs me and..." she faded off, her cheeks turning red as she discontinued her sentence. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened next, and Draco knew she hadn't meant to say that.
"Where's the tough Granger I met earlier this year?" he asked.
"She ran into hiding," Hermione said with a sniff.
"Well, it's time for her to come back out," said Draco. "Look, only until you truly stand up to that bone-head will he get the idea through his thick skull, that he can't control you. You know, you made a wrong choice in being his boyfriend."
"I didn't want to be his boyfriend," Hermione said quietly. "I just did it because I felt sorry for him, and I didn't know how to reject him."
"See where being nice really stabs you in the back?" Draco pointed out. "Now look...he's getting to the point where he thinks he can control you. I didn't know you were a pushover, Granger."
"I'm not!" Hermione snapped at him.
"Then prove it." Draco looked at her sternly. "Break up with him, point blank. If he loves you as much as he says he does, then he wouldn't hurt you. You deserve better."
Hermione sniffed once again and smiled slightly. "Are you suggesting yourself?"
Draco rolled his eyes. "Like I would be a better choice."
"At this point, you would be," Hermione said very quietly, her cheeks turning pink.
Draco stared at her amazed, his face red. "W-what?"
"You're being too nice to me, Malfoy." Hermione looked at him. "You've gotten soft yourself."
"N-no I haven't!" Draco snapped at her. "Stop smiling," he added irritably when she beamed at him all-knowingly. "I haven't grown soft, okay?"
"Really?" she inquiried. "So, how do you really feel about me?" She looked over at him. When he turned to look at her, it was that look again. The one she didn't recognize, the one she had never seen him make before. The one look to make her heart skip a beat, and her knees turn to jelly.
"You really want to know?" Draco asked her, edging closer towards her. "Well, I'll show you." They were nearly nose to nose. Hermione's heart was hammering hard inside her chest as Draco continued to lean towards her, their noses rubbing against one anothers now. Was he going to kiss her? she was rooted to the spot...then all of a sudden, his hands attacked her sides, and shrieking, she fell to her back, shouting in hysterics.
"Malfoy...quit!" she shrieked in laughter, trying hard to escape Draco's tickling fingers. "Okay okay, I give!" She quit laughing to discover that Draco was hovering over her, hands resting on either side of her. She beamed at him, and surprisingly, he returned the smile back. But then as the seconds rolled by, the two started to notice that they were in the most awkward of positions. Draco's lower half was pinned against her lower half, and to any suspecting passerbys, it would've looked like they were trying to get some "business" done.
"Erm...Draco, what's that poking my navel?" Hermione asked him curiously.
"My wand!" Draco said quickly, his cheeks turning red. He jumped up and began to fiddle with his robes, hiding a red face as Hermione watched him suspiciously.
"Feel any better?" he asked, turning to her with his face completely normal.
"Yeah," said Hermione, sighing. She took a moment of silence to look at Draco, and then she smiled. "You know, you really are more pleasant like this."
Draco said nothing, but looked at his wrist for the time. "Well, Granger, Its been great, really...but there's only five seconds left for class. Later!"
"Hey wait!" Hermione called after him as he suddenly ran from her. "Wait Malfoy!" She started after him and eventually caught up with him, suprised by her agility. They were neck and neck, racing to the potions class. The bell rang finally right when they both ran into the classroom, panting slightly. The full classroom stared at them, including Snape.
"Oh, Malfoy! what you breathin' so hard for, huh?" Seamus Finnigan called out. "You and Hermione did a few things?"
The Griffindors made oohing noises while the Slytherins jeered.
"HELL NO!" Draco and Hermione both shouted.
"Ten points from Griffindor and Slytherin," Snape said to the two students as the class roared with laughter. "Sit down, or more points will be reducted. There's no need to exploit your business out, though Draco, I thought you'd make a better choice, not worse."
The classroom went silent immediately. Hermione stared at Snape in suprise before a hurt look then overcame her features as she went to her seat next to Ron. She refused to look over at Ron but instead looked over at Draco, who seemed ready to argue.
"Excuse me sir, but it's really none of your business who I chose to befriend," he said calmly back, staring Snape straight in the eyes.
"Don't push it, Draco," whispered Snape, his eyes glittering dangerously.
Draco opened his mouth to argue even more, but his eyes suddenly met Hermione's and he stopped himself. She was shaking her head slightly. Draco closed his mouth, glaring at Snape and marched to his seat, throwing his bag down and plopping in his chair. Because Snape made that comment, Draco decided not to listen to the lesson of the day.
Why do teachers think they're always right?
While Snape did the blah blah blahs in the blonde's ears, he glanced around the room and his eyes caught on to Hermione across from him, and was surprised to see that she wasn't really paying attention herself. Her head was propped in her hand and although she seemed to be alert, her eyes had a glassy, distant look to them. Inspired by an idea, Draco then reached for his parchment, ripped half of it slowly as to not make much noise, scribbled something on it with his quill and rolling it up, he glanced at Snape before throwing it at Hermione.
Hermione was wondering what Ron was thinking when she felt something hit her cheek. Glancing down, it was a folded note with her name on it. She looked around the room and caught Draco's eye, and he was looking at her expectantly. Realizing that it was him who sent the note, Hermione saw that out the corner of her eye, Ron was playing tic-tac-toe with Harry next to him. She sat back in her chair, casually bringing the note into her lap and opening it up:
Weasley is such a git, ignore him.
Hermione glanced at Ron, who was too busy in tic-tac-toe to notice her. She grabbed her quill and quickly scribbled back:
I can't. I mean, I don't understand him. The other day, he told me that he loved me. He isn't acting like he loves me. In anycase, he told me that you gave him a little lecture on love. Did you really
Snape was busy writing ingredients on the board. Hermione flicked the paper back over to Draco, who caught it cleverly before it hit the floor. He opened it up, read its contents and raised his eyebrows. He wrote for about five seconds before throwing it back to Hermione. Hermione watched Snape, pretending to listen to the lesson. When he finally assigned them bookwork, she propped the book up against the table in her lap, blocking her hands from view as she opened the note:
Yeah, I mean, I guess I seen what love is, and right now, thats called ignorant. Why do you ask?
Hermione glanced over at the blonde to discover that he was looking at her, his eyebrows still raised. She could see the curiousity in his eyes. She picked up her quill and wrote back:
Because I thought you hated me.
Hermione folded it back up and flicked it back to Draco. Draco quickly grabbed it and dove his hands in his lap as Snape glanced up to look around. When the coast was clear, he opened the note, his fingers trembling with excitment. He read the reply and felt his heart beating hard against his chest. He glanced over at Hermione and she was pretending to read. Well, there's no way he'd admit it to her, he was gonna get the answer outta her first.
Hermione waited for Draco to finish the note, trying to collect herself. At this point, Draco's been more like a friend to her than anyone else, comforting her and saving her from a few sticky situations. She couldn't deny it anymore. She liked him. But to what extent, she didn't know. It was so confusing. She liked Ron already. Or did she? The note landed right in front of her, disturbing her train of thought. She opened it slowly, nearly afraid of what she might see.
Well, same here. So now what?
Draco watched Hermione's reaction and was surprised to see her cheeks flush heavily as she avoided his gaze. He had expected her to give him a stern look and then write her response, no questions asked. But she was taking her time. Then after what seemed like forever, she slowly wrote a response, checked for Snape and then tossed the parchment.
Draco got it midair and opened it almost immediately, not bothering to check for the teacher.
I don't hate you. On the contrary, you're like a friend to me. And you?
Draco gasped, and many eyes turned to him. "Oh...I just got a papercut," he said to everyone. Hermione was definitely avoiding his eyes now. He pretended to suck the imaginary blood from his index finger while everyone turned back to their work. Snape looked at him a bit longer but turned back to grading homework papers. Draco just sat there in disbelief. That was an answer he wasn't expecting. So know Hermione likes him? Were pigs flying? Was the world coming to an end? Maybe not, but now he could probably tell her about his own feelings. He scribbled a response, and then just as he was about to toss it...
"Stop right there, Draco."
The class looked up as Snape walked swiftly over to the blonde. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked quietly, looking at the note. "Your not reading."
"Great job, sir, you guessed right," Draco said sarcastically.
Snape narrowed his eyes.
"Hand over the note right now."
Draco's smug look quickly faded off his face. "W-what?"
Snape was the one who smirked now. "Not so tough now huh? I guess the class will discover your little secrets. Now hand it over."
Draco hesitated a while, but before he could move, Snape reached across the table and grabbed it himself. As soon as he opened the paper, he yelped and threw it back at Draco. Draco grabbed it, confused but as he looked at Snape he saw why he dropped it. large purple dots began to appear on his face, the word GIT now visible on his face. Everyone began to laugh at the teacher. Draco looked amazed over at Hermione and she winked at him.
The bell rang. Hermione gathered her stuff together as everyone began to file out. She avoided Ron's eyes as he passed by her silently, and with all her stuff, she was the last to leave the room. As she walked to the door, she noticed a folded up piece of paper on Draco's desk. She snatched it up and rushed out the room before Snape could yell at her more. In the midst of the crowd, Hermione unfolded it to read Draco's reply.
I feel the same way too.
A/N: Another day, another chapter. This is my favorite chapter, because its a complete turning point. Now next chapter, that Inner Hermione is gonna come out, and she's gonna do something that I'm SURE you guys were hoping she'd do a LONG time ago since the story started. Ron's gonna act like a jerk AGAIN next chapter, so be prepared for that. In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoyed the read...I'll try to be back in a few days or so.