Chapter 10

Hermione felt awful the next day. She had swung back and forth between being angry and sad all through the night. Around four in the morning she gave up and went down to the common room. She tried reading, but was too tired to take anything in.

She still couldn't believe that Draco had turned on her. She could understand that he wasn't happy about the break up, but still some loyalty to your ex was expected. And then the hypocrisy, calling her a mudblood considering what he had been doing with this one. Then again, she had never been good enough for a real relationship, had she. She was something he would hide forever.

This was all his fault and if he was taking the breakup badly, then it was what he deserved. She just hoped that he wasn't going to return to his former creepy self. Surely some maturity had been gained. Anyway, it wasn't her problem anymore. Time to move on, she decided.

With that, Hermione managed to get some peace of mind and her tired body took over as her overactive mind settled down.

She slept until three in the afternoon, which isn't necessarily unusual on the weekends for teenagers, but it certainly was for her.

"Is there something you're not telling me about?" Ginny said over dinner. "Or rather someone?"

"No." Hermione said trying to look sincere.

"So what exactly were you doing last night?" Ginny asked.

"I just couldn't sleep, worried about stuff." Hermione said, at least that was true. She felt awful about lying. "There might have been a little flirtation that ended badly."

"Pray tell." Ginny said with a sly smile.

"It never, ever bares mentioning again. It was stupid and its totally over, and I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm sure you'll tell me when you're ready." Ginny continue.

Don't count on it, Hermione thought. At least Draco wasn't staring daggers at her anymore. He wasn't even looking her way at all. There was an irrational twinge of hurt, but Hermione threw the sentiment aside as soon as it arose.

He was ignoring her completely in class the next day. Hermione was caught between being hurt and being relieved. Maybe it was time to put the whole thing behind her.

A few days passed and her life seemed to be acquiring a new equilibrium. She even had the library back. Hermione had gotten on top of some of the work she had neglected and she was enjoying spending time with her friends without the whole lying part.

After leaving Ancient Runes, she was walking back to the common room, distractedly thinking about the five parchment essay she needed to write.

"Whore." She heard someone say as they passed her.

Hermione head shot up to see Pansy Parkinson's retreating back. Hermione was a bit stunned. As it was only the two of them in the hall, she couldn't have caught a snippet of a conversation. Had Pansy Parkinson just called her a whore? What in the world had just happened? Well this was a new dimension to their rather shallow relationship, which mostly consisted of 'mudblood', 'bookworm' or 'know it all cow'. This was new and it was out of norm. Where had this come from?

Realisation dawned on Hermione. Draco had been talking about her. She didn't know what he'd said, but judging from her reception from Pansy, she could well imagine. Then again, Pansy would call her a whore if Draco had quoted sentiments from Romeo and Juliet. But deep down, Hermione knew that whatever he had said, it wasn't nice. He wasn't proclaiming his endless love. It just wasn't his style.

Immature git, Hermione swore, along with a list of choice names. She still stood rooted to the spot. Mortified at what he'd done and even more mortified about what people were thinking about her. She was used to being criticised for knowing things, but she had never been called a whore. There was nothing in her arsenal to deal with this. It hurt like hell and damn it, she was tearing up again.

Nothing she did or told herself would stop the tears from flowing. All she could do was to run back to the dorm and pull the blankets over her head. She even knocked Neville over in the process and wasn't capable of apologising. She would have to do it later.

"Just a silly little flirtation, huh?" Ginny said later in the evening to Hermione's drawn curtains.

"I've got PMS." Hermione called from insider her little haven. She wasn't going to come out, because the state of her would tell that she had been sobbing her eyes out.

Being hurt had passed pretty readily. Her stupidity for getting involved with Draco Malfoy stinged more at this point, but worse was the fear of what her friends would say. But if she knew anything, there would now be rumours spreading around the school as she lay here. Slytherin's loved a bit of gossip to hurt people and the intention was to hurt. Even by the non-existing chance that Draco wasn't trying to, Pansy definitely would and she would be painting the thing in the worst light possible.

Later in the evening, once Hermione had calmed down and the kiddies had all gone to bed, she went downstairs. She had decided that she would have to face this bull, horns straight on.

They were all sitting around the fireplace. George was reading, Harry and Ron was playing chess while Neville was working on some contraption. Ginny was writing on a piece of parchment. It couldn't have been a more comfortable scene in her estimation. Maybe one she wouldn't be a part of anymore after this.

"This summer." Hermione started with a shaky voice, but steely determination made her spit it out. "I spent the summer in Cuba with Draco Malfoy."

"Funny Hermione." George said. "I spent the summer with Banshee on the Shetland Islands."

The strange turn of conversation surprised everyone.

"No I'm serious, I spent the summer with Draco Malfoy. I didn't intend to, it just ended up that way. You see at the trial..."

"Stop messing around." Ron said.

"Ron." Hermione started but couldn't finish. They knew she was serious by the tone of her voice.

The room was completely quiet. She had never believed in the idea that you could hear a pin drop, but now she knew it was probably true.

"Oh." Was all that could be heard as Ginny realised that it had been more than a passing acquaintance.

" Wer..." Harry started.

"Did you sleep with him?" Ron piped up.

Hermione could only chew on her lip and look down on the carpet.

"Have you lost your mind?" Ron yelled.

"Wha ...Why?" Harry said at the same time. "This must be some kind of joke. And its a bad one."

Hermione didn't have a response, so just stood there.

Ron stormed off. Harry stayed for a while trying to catch her eye, before giving up and leaving, followed by Ginny.

"Wow." George said. "That was uncomfortable. A big fart is just as effective at clearing a room. I better go see that Ron isn't throwing my stuff around."

Neville was the only one left.

"Strange things happen." He said and Hermione looked up. A shaky smile told him that she appreciated his support.

"Sorry for knocking you over before." She said. "I was a bit ..."

"Don't worry about it." He said. "Are you coming to the match this weekend?"

"I think I might give it a pass." Hermione said. The thought of being ignored and ostracised was bad enough, having to suffer through it and a match was too much.

The equilibrium she had found was gone again. She spent the next couple of days in the dorm or the library. No one disturbed her. Neville was always nice and she would never in her life forget that. He even brought her some dinner in the evening, when she couldn't bare going down.

It was obvious that Ron was furious, Harry was confused and Ginny was withdrawn. Lavender kept of giving her dirty looks.

The library was again her safe haven and the books were the distraction she needed. Books and Neville the only things you can truly rely on in this world, she had decided. But thinking about it only made her teary again. She had never cried so much in her life as she had over the last month. Maybe during the losses in the war, but she was so sick of crying.

Ginny did find her in the library one evening.

"What the hell?" She said.

"It just happened." Hermione responded before explaining the circumstances of Malfoy following them and then Clara deserting her. "But I'm still nothing more than a mudblood to him. That became obvious, so I broke it off."

"Still, Malfoy, really?" Ginny said. "I'm sorry. I couldn't have been easy telling us."

"I'm sorry for the whole mess." Hermione said, "But it happened and now I have to deal with it."

"I still can't understand how you could even touch the ferret." Ginny said with a shiver.

"Believe me, if I had an answer to give you, I would." Hermione said.

"So more than a flirtation then?"

"Just a tad. Unfortunately."