Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter! I also do not make a profit off of any of this, just do it for the fun!
Ch.10
Draco walked into the Common Room exhausted from the day. He had managed to stay away from Hermione all day long, but it had taken a lot out of him. He had never expected for this to end up this way.
As the day had passed, he had felt the emptiness seeping into him, but he had not went to her. He had to be stronger then this, he couldn't change that way, not even for her. The cruel truth of it all killed him, but he could not shake that feeling anymore.
"Draco, can I talk to you?" Hermione said from the couch. Draco turned towards her, feeling dread wash over him. He did not want to see her, it made it harder for him. "What do you want?" He asked.
"Well for starters an explanation. You have no right to act this way towards me. I haven't done anything wrong, if you remember, you were the one that did not leave well enough alone last night!" Hermione said, her temper coming to the surface. She was not going to be treated this way, especially from him.
Draco looked at her, knowing that she was right. This really was all of his fault, If he would have just left it be last night, they would still be okay. "Hermione, I am sorry. I just, I cant let go of certain things. It is stuck in my head, they wont go away." Draco said, knowing that she would get his point.
Hermione looked at him like he had just slapped her, "Because I am a Mudblood?" She said softly. "No, Hermione, you don't understand. No one would accept this, you know that." Draco said, trying to make her see.
"No, I think I understand well enough. You let your pride and the views of ignorant people stand in the way of this. What ever this is, I don't know what to do anymore. I actually thought that I was starting to love you! I am so freaking stupid, I should have known that you would always be what you have always been. An arrogant, spoiled child that thinks that he is better then everyone, but you are not! You are nothing but an ass!" Hermione yelled, not caring if she said the hurtful things she was.
For a long moment they stared at one another in disbelief until Hermione finally walked away from him. She slammed her door, locking it with every spell that she knew.
Draco watched her leave, knowing that every mean and cruel thing she had just said was the truth. He really was nothing at all and now he knew that she knew. For this to be what he had wanted, it hurt like hell.
He was not used to having feelings like this. Never in his life had he felt this way, not even when his mother had been murdered. It was like he had no feelings and yet so very upset. It was mind blowing that anyone could feel this right now.
Some of her words came back to him then, 'I actually thought I was starting to love you' she had said that to him. It made him feel like all of this was such a waste.
As he got into bed, he thought of her. It was all he could think of now, the only difference was all he could hear was what she had just told him. He was nothing except an arrogant, spoiled child to her, maybe he was to everyone.
Hermione could not believe that had just happened. She had only wanted an explanation, but when he had said that he couldn't let go of some things, she had known what he meant. He had been talking about her blood. You would think after all of this war and fighting, people would let go of the views they had once held.
Apparently not though, not him. She remembered herself telling him she thought she was falling in love with him, and really wished she had not. It only gave him fuel for his fire that he had started.
She could not believe the way things had happened. Never in a thousand years did she think that she would tell him that she was in love with him, and now that she had, it felt so wrong.
Hermione could not comprehend any of this anymore. She felt like complete crap now and knew that it was not going to get any better.
She looked at her clock and realized that tonight would be another sleepless night, just like last. You would think after last night with no rest, she would need it, but no. Hermione was to afraid to fall asleep, knowing that she would dream of him.
She didn't know that love could feel this way, make you act like a complete fool. As she sat up in her bed, holding her pillow, she decided that if this really was love, then she would be better off without it.
When day broke outside, Hermione got up and took a shower. She dressed in her school robes, wondering if maybe she should just pretend to be sick. As she looked in the mirror, she really wished that she could.
Her eyes were sunken in and there were dark circles around them. Her face and hands were pale, and she was trembling, trying to keep back the stupid tears that just would not go away.
As she made her way to breakfast, she knew that today was going to be horrible for her. "What happened?" Ginny asked automatically when Hermione sat down. "What do you mean." Hermione said softly, not looking at her friend. Of course she would know something was up, she was a girl and knew the signs. "Hermione, no offense, but you look like crap." Harry said from beside Ginny.
Hermione looked up, great, if it was bad enough that Harry noticed, then it was bad. "Nothing happened, I just didn't get any sleep okay? I have a lot on my mind.' Hermione said, not looking at either one of them.
"You know you are a very bad liar." Ginny said. Hermione looked up again, it sounded to familiar. "Nothing is wrong I swear. I just need some rest is all." Hermione said trying to sound like she was being honest.
"Why don't you just tell us? It might make you feel better." Harry said with a shrug. He knew that this was not his best friend, something was seriously wrong and he had a feeling that he knew exactly who was the wrong one.
Hermione stood abruptly, shocking both Harry and Ginny. "There is nothing wrong with me!" She yelled making everyone in the hall stop and look at her. Hermione realized what she had done and ran out of the hall.
Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and found who he was looking for. Draco sat there, the only person who had not looked at Hermione when she had yelled. He felt the anger boil in him as he looked at Malfoy. Nothing like this was supposed to have happened, and now Hermione was all broken up and stuff and he did not like that.
"Harry, where are you going?" Ginny asked when he stood, seeing Draco getting ready to leave. "Come on, we are going to get some answers." Harry said, knowing his girlfriend well enough o know that she would not let him go alone.
Ginny looked over at Draco and realized what Harry was talking about. They both raced after him, wanting to know exactly why their friend was in the shape she was in.
When they finally caught up with him outside the hall, Draco turned to look at them, "Took you long enough." He said lifelessly. Both Ginny and Harry noticed that he looked and sounded just as bad as Hermione did.
"What is going on Malfoy?" Harry asked. "Nothing, why do you ask?" He answered, not caring that he sounded so empty. "Well for starters, both you and Hermione look like shit and you both sound like you are dieing or something." Ginny said.
"You two are too observant." Draco said, still walking towards their first class. "No, we just look out for our friends. Something is wrong and we want to know what happened." Harry said angrily.
"All you need to know is that I am an arrogant, spoiled child, that hates Mudbloods and that she loves me and I her, but I cant be with her because I am supposed to hate her." Draco said, not caring that he had just admitted that he loved her back. This was all too much for him to handle anymore.
He walked away, leaving two shocked Gryffindors behind him. If this had not been so serious, he would have laughed at the looks on their faces, but as it was, he didn't care anymore.
"Did I just hear him right?" Harry asked after Draco was gone. "Yeah, I think you did." Ginny said sadly. "How did this happen? How can they really be in love?" Harry asked, still in shock. "Your looking into the wrong part. He does love her, but the way he was brought up is stopping him. He is afraid of it, so he left her alone. That is what is wrong with both of them!" Ginny said.
"Well this is getting to depressing for me." Harry said, shaking his head. "I cant believe this! They are both so stupid! How can they do this to themselves. Look at both of them, they are both blubbering fools right now, and they could fix it so easily!" Ginny said angrily.
"Well, they will just have to figure that out themselves, you know that." Harry said, shaking his head again. Ginny knew that he was right, but she really wished that she could help her friends.
Everywhere Hermione went, there were people whispering and pointing at her. Some had expressions of sympathy, while others looked at her as if to say, I told you so. By the end of the day, Hermione had to get away from it all.
While everyone went into the Great Hall, she went onto the grounds, needing to be alone and away from everything. She did not want to go back to her room, it was too depressing for her.
As she walked towards the lake, she tried to figure out how she had ended up this way. It had started with that stupid party. She knew that she should have never went. If she had not, Ron would not have pulled that things he had, Draco would not have needed to save her, and they would have never had become friends. Then she would have never been a fool and fell in love with him.
As she sat by a large tree, she felt the worse she had in her whole life, everything had become bad now.
As Draco looked around the Great Hall, he noticed something. It took a moment for him to realize that it was Hermione that he was missing. It took him a moment to realize that she had not been there for lunch either.
That was what made him give up the fight. She had not ate a single thing that whole day and he was pretty sure that she had not ate anything the day before. He was not going to be the cause of her to lose herself completely. He stood, getting away from the Great Hall, trying to find her.
As he looked for her, he tried to make himself stop, knowing that he may regret it if he did. After a long while of fighting it, he gave up the fight. He didn't care anymore what his father, or anyone else thought anymore.
A part of him knew that he had thought that way all along, but he was too afraid to just let himself care for her. He didn't know what made him snap out of it, but now finding her seemed the most important thing in the world. He had to let her know that he was sorry, to make her know that he did love her too and that he wanted to be with her.
He could only assume that it was the loneliness and emptiness that finally made him see, but he didn't know for sure. It was strange, he hadn't been able to leave her for a whole day. It made him smile though, he loved her and he had to tell her, she had to know.
He was passing by a window when he seen something out of the corner of his eye. He looked out and he felt his heart jump. She was outside by the lake, it was freezing out there! He rolled his eyes at himself and ran towards the closest exit.