Oi, Granger!

Help, I have done it again
I have been here many times before
Hurt myself again today
And, the worst part is there's no-one else to blame

!!!!!!Very important Author's note at the end!!!!!!!!

Chapter Ten: The Scoreboard

The next morning, Hermione awoke and realized that it was Day Six of the Hermione Granger's Shitty Series. She bit down hard on her nearly-healed lip, it still being sore after biting through it during her tryst with Dr—Malfoy. She hadn't healed it with magic, believing it would keep her focused if she had a reminder of that night.When she ran her tongue over the cut, it sent a tingling sensation that was pleasurable and painful at the same time, down her spine. She flinched. Her focus, mainly, was not running back into Malfoy's arms and crying herself to sleep where ever he was at the time.

Surprisingly, when she had showered, combed her hair, and dressed, she allowed for Ginny, Harry, and Ron to enter her room. The three of them sat uncomfortably around her, not speaking outright in fear of her lashing out. Instead, she sat quietly and waited for one of them to say something. A heavy, unsure cloud had formed itself above their heads.

"Blaise Zabini approached me this morning," Ginny said softly. "He…um…wanted me to tell you that 'Draco's dead on his feet because of you'."

"What?" Hermione screeched. "It's my fault that he's a dirty wanker with no morale?"

"Obviously," Ginny replied.

"How is it my fault?"

"I'm not saying it's your fault…but I think you and Malfoy could have worked this out, you know?"

"After what he did to me…Are you kidding?"

"I for one, believe what Hermione did was within rationale. I mean, Malfoy is a heartless bastard. He was going to use Hermione for her body. But thank Merlin he didn't. She's still pure and all together!" Ron exclaimed, making Hermione flinch. Oh, she whispered in her head, how very wrong you are, Ron.

"I think Ron's right too, Ginny. Malfoy is bad news Hermione, maybe this is the best. I mean, it was all a shock to us, but we weren't going to, you know, beat him to a bloody pulp or something," Harry shrugged. Ron coughed.

"Ahem…I was going to!"

"Well, Ronald, that can only be expected from you," Ginny said tersely. Ron glared.

"But seriously, what did he think he was doing, betting against you like you're some prized meat? I think it's disgusting," Ron huffed. Hermione sniffed.

"I really was prize-worthy to that prick, wasn't I?" she asked with a small, grim smile. "Gave him his money's worth." The tips of Ron's ears turned red, and Harry's jaw-dropped. Ginny made a tsk'ing noise and went to sit beside Hermione on the bed.

"How bawdy of you to say, Hermione," she said softly, yet somewhat accusatorily. Hermione shrugged.

"Just trying to lighten the mood is all."

"With sexual humor that's extremely suggestive?" Ginny pressed on.

"I don't see how that matters. It was a joke—"

"But you never make lewd jokes," Ron cut in.

"Does it really bother you—?"

"Maybe," Ron blurted out quickly. "Maybe you did sleep with him." Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but quickly clamped it shut. "Oh sweet Morgana…you did, didn't you?"

"Of course not!" she cried.

"You did!"

"I DID NOT!"

"YOU SHAGGED HIM!" Ron had jumped from his seat beside her bed, staring at her incredulously. "How could you?"

"How could I what?" she hissed. "How could I shag someone you absolutely hate? Easy: I did it for revenge, for my own twisted and lewd hatred Ronald. We both have different ways of expressing our anger towards people…you couldn't possibly understand my motive behind fucking Malfoy." Ron flinched at her cold tone, and Ginny, during the retort, had moved away from Hermione in fear that the curly-haired girl would explode. Ron sneered.

"I know what your motive was: you're completely mental, that's what it is…" he growled. It was then, that Hermione burst into tears.

"You're right!" she cried, taking in several, deep sniffs through her mouth, her lips parting. She threw up her hands in defeat, "I am mental!" Ron was completely taken aback, and soon found himself being glared at by both Harry and Ginny. He groaned and went to sit next to her on the bed, wrapping a comforting arm around her.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I really didn't mean it."

"You did! And you're right Ron, I am so mental these days…I can't believe I allowed Draco sodding Malfoy of all people to be my first," she said sadly. Ron was wondering the same thing. Somewhere, deep inside his heart, he had always believed he would be Hermione's first. But thoughts like that had been pushed to the back of his head since he up and started dating Luna Lovegood. But in the end, he still would have been wrong.

"People make mistakes, Hermione. You don't have to relive it, okay?" Harry said gently, sitting at the edge of the bed. He placed a hand on her foot to consol her. She sobbed again and nodded.

"But…I loved him."

"Love doesn't always last," Ron said.

"Yes, maybe Malfoy wasn't the one, love," Ginny comforted. At this, Hermione calmed down.

"Merlin," she sighed, "I'm a ruddy mess, aren't I?" The three people sitting around her nodded, "Damn it."

"All you need is a cool towel on your face, is all," Ginny said, conjuring a small wash cloth and a small bowl with cold water in it. She stood up, crawling onto the bed, and balanced the bowl and towel carefully. Dipping it in the bowl and then wringing it, Ginny began to wipe the tears and snot from off of Hermione's face. It was times like these, when Ginny reminded the trio of Mrs. Weasley greatly. "There," she soothed, "all better."

"Thanks Gin," Hermione whispered. Hermione felt that even though she had gotten to know such a peculiar, adoring side of Draco Malfoy, she had the utmost faith that she could actually take a step forward, and heal from losing him so quickly. She would just need time.

-----

Later, in the common room, Hermione decided to work on some Potions homework to take her mind off of Draco. Harry, Ron and Ginny sat around her, Ron had decided to challenge Harry to a game of chess, and Ginny was reading a novel. Hermione, who was laying flat on her stomach scribbling madly across her parchment, began to groan.

"Oh, bollocks…" she muttered.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"I need to find this formula, and I specifically recall Professor Snape drawling on about how we need to find this formula with outside sources…nothing in the book would help."

"Oh…do you want us to take a trip to the library?" Harry suggested, but it was clear that that was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment.

"No…it's quite all right. I'll go by myself."

"Are you sure?" Ron asked. Hermione nodded. "Well, I think I'm going out for a fly. Wanna come Harry?"

"Nah…Ginny wants to sneak out to Honeydukes…"

"Oh, bring me back Chocolate Frogs?" Ron whined. He was too lazy to travel with them, and would rather fly about the school for a couple of hours.

"I'd like some Bertie Botts," Hermione said quietly, pulling her books into her bag.

"Sure, I'll pick some stuff up for you. You know what, we'll just get a little bit of everything and bring it back, okay?" Harry asked. His two best friends nodded. "Good," he concluded. "I'm going to run and get the map…be back in a jiffy." He turned and sprinted up the stairs. Hermione was finally throwing a cloak over her muggle jeans and t-shirt, wanting to fight off the cold seeping into the cracks of the castle.

"Well, I'll see you later," she said to Ron and Ginny. Ron gave her a small, encouraging smile, and Ginny looked as motherly as possible.

"Maybe you can let me see the notes you'll take on the formula when you're done with it?" Ron asked. Hermione snorted.

"Right, when pigs fly Ronald. I have a strict no-copying policy on homework, notes, and tests…" she trailed off, exiting the portrait.

--

"Hermione!" cried a voice. She spun on spot and turned to see a deathly pale and extremely tired Draco Malfoy running towards her. Startled, she took off down the hall, trying to run from him. After a few yards, Hermione's brain began to scream: What the hell are you doing? You're a witch! Hermione turned around and pulled out her wand. "INCARCEROUS!" she bellowed. As Draco began to slow down, the spell slammed directly into his stomach and immediately, thin brown ropes began to wrap itself around Draco's body, making him fall sideways as he struggled against the constraints.

"Hermione!" he cried. "Take this off of me at once!" He tried to wiggle in the tight restraints so he could reach his pocket for his wand, but alas, he failed. "TAKE IT OFF OF ME!" he shouted heatedly. Hermione took a few steps back from Draco's struggling form, before turning and jetting off in the opposite direction.

Upon reaching the corridor of the library, she sighed deeply, thinking that this encounter was too close. He almost caught up with her. She disappeared around the corner, knowing that the spell would wind down in half an hour or so. She cursed herself for not heading to the library right away, but actually visiting the Room of Requirement and pulling out her dress. She had cast a scourgify charm over the dress, cleaning it of the blood stains left on it from just six days ago. It was there that she had cried herself into exhaustion, clenching the dress tightly as her sniffs became like loud pounding to her ears.

-

Draco willed himself not to cry out in anger at the smartarse Gryffindor girl. He stopped struggling against the binds now, and just closed his eyes and released a sigh.

About twenty minutes later, Draco heard someone coming down the hall, "Malfoy?"

Draco wiggled his head around to see Potter and Ginny coming his way, large black bags hanging from off their wrists, the Honeydukes logo on them. "Oh great, just what I need…two more hotheaded Gryffindors…" Draco drawled.

"Who did this to you Malfoy?" Ginny asked, ignoring his comment. Draco moaned.

"Who do you think Weasley?" Draco growled. He wiggled against the ropes. "Do you mind letting me up? I'm starting to go numb…" Harry waved his hand over Draco, making the ropes disappear. Draco rolled onto his back and stretched on the floor, his body aching.

"You know Malfoy, you really hurt her. Maybe you should just…leave her alone for now."

"Fuck, Potter. I'm not going to leave her alone, and I love her. I can't live without her, I'm dying—"

"Please, save me your love-sick comments, Malfoy," Harry said, lifting a hand to stop him. Draco tried to attempt a small smile, but it easily turned into a grimace. Harry offered Draco a hand, and Draco quietly looked at it. He was reminded of his first year, when he had offered Harry his friendship. Without a second thought, Draco accepted the hand.

First plan of Winning Back Granger completed, Draco thought happily, as Harry pulled him up. "Thanks," he muttered with a grin worthy of Voldemort himself. Harry was slightly taken aback by the thanks, but nodded nonetheless. Draco swayed on spot, still trying to gain blood circulation back into his legs. Harry steadied him out.

"Here, Malfoy. Why don't you come back to the Gryffindor common room? It's only a few portraits away, and you seem dead on your feet. Maybe I can find you a Pepper Up potion somewhere in my trunk," Harry offered. Draco smiled.

"Thanks Potter, I'd like that actually."

"Harry…" Ginny started, looking unsure. "What if Hermione is there?" she asked. Harry shook his head.

"She said she was going to the library. You know how she is; she won't be back until dinner."

"Fine," Ginny said, crossing her arms. "But let's hurry up."

When Hermione came back to the Gryffindor tower, her arms filled with books and her brow collecting sweat, she found the most unusual sight in front of her.

Draco Malfoy, her boyfriend—ex-boyfriend, was playing exploding snap with his archenemy, Harry Potter.

"Oh, Hermione…" trailed Ginny, standing from her seat beside the two as she kept count of the score, her eyes wide with fear. "We didn't know you'd be back so soon!" she quickly added, "It's Harry's fault!" as Harry shot her an icy glare, making his girlfriend promptly close her mouth. Draco stood from his seat.

"It's my fault Hermione…"

"Get. Out," she spat, fury building inside her belly.

"Hermione, please," Draco whispered.

"GET OUT OF MY TOWER!" she roared. Dropping her mounds of books, she began to pick them up and toss them wildly at Draco, some of them actually catching him in the head. He dodged most of them though, his cheeks burning with embarrassment and shame. "GET OUT OF MY LIFE!" Before she could throw another book at the blonde boy, he had slammed the Portrait door shut, causing the Fat Lady to release a chain of colorful swear words.

Hermione rounded on her two friends. "How could you?" she cried. "How could you bring him here after all that's happened? I'm not ready to talk to him, damn it! How can you be so fucking insensitive?!" tears began to roll down her cheeks, and she cursed her overt display of emotion, but knew she couldn't help it. She watched as Harry hung his head, and Ginny crossed her arms against her chest and looked anywhere but at her. "How fucking dare you." With that, Hermione turned on her heel and exited the tower. She wandered the halls for what seemed like hours.

"Hey, Hermione, where are you going?" She spun on her heel to see Ron coming her way, his broom slung over his shoulder, coming back from a quick fly around the campus. Hermione frowned as she took in Ron's disheveled appearance: his wind blown hair, his bruised cheeks that were red from flying, his wrinkled shirt, his piercing blue eyes. He approached her, and she took a staggering step back. The sight repulsed her. Ron's eyes shot up with alarm at Hermione's confused and angry look. She suddenly had a mental image of Draco walking towards her with a wind-blown appearance. Her mind began to race, and then she saw him, again.

Draco was rounding the corner, holding a muggle icepack on his forehead, probably having gotten it from her first-aid kit in the Tower. She was too preoccupied to become angry at him for going through her things, because she had then pulled Ron to her, crushing her lips against his and pulling him on her, his weight crashing down so hard on her she slammed into the corridor's wall, releasing a painful (but from a third parties view: excited) moan. Ron soon tried to push her off of him, but she expertly slipped her tongue into his mouth, and found that Ron was responding to her sudden, heated, desperate need to snog him senseless. He wrapped one arm around her waist, and the other was planted on the wall beside her head. Her eyes were half open through out the whole thing, and she caught a glimpse at the broken, shell-shocked look on Draco's face. The poor, confused boy turned right back around and left the two Gryffindors alone to continue their snog. She didn't even realize that Ron had suddenly growled and was detangling her arms from around his neck.

"What the fuck are you doing Hermione?" he barked. "I'm with Luna!"

"What?" Hermione asked, wiping his saliva off her mouth with the back of her hand. Ron's eyes narrowed.

"I'm dating Luna, how could you kiss me like that?"

"You kissed me back!" she cried.

"You caught me off guard," Ron groaned, running a hand through his hair. "Shite…does this make me a cheater?" he muttered fearfully to himself. Hermione bit her lower lip.

"It was an accident Ron…we don't have to ever talk about this again…"

"…why would you kiss me like that? Like, we were in love or something?" Ron asked. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Honestly Ron, it was truly an accident, no sappy reasons behind it."

"But you don't love me?"

"No…at least not in that sense…"

"Oh-Kay…I believe you Hermione. But…promise to never mention this again?"

"Promise," she said quickly, wanting to change the subject. "I got into it with Harry and Ginny."

"You lot had a row?"

"Yes. I'm going to the Prefects bathroom for a swim, but if they ask where I am, please tell them that I'm sorry, and I just need some time alone…"

"Yeah, no problem…" Ron gave her one last look. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked. She nodded.

"Ron, I'm really okay. Don't worry about me."

"Fine." He waved her off. "I'll save you some chocolate." With a large grin tossed in his direction, Hermione turned and walked off, her mind racing with thoughts of Draco as she tried to convince herself that she no longer loved him. She was failing miserably.

----

Blaise's coy smile was nothing to go by now. He had lost her.

He had won over the first task of Blaise's plan:

Become chummy-chummy with her fellow Gryffin-dorks

But now it had all backfired. She was snogging Weasel.

She was in love with Weasel.

Draco began to throw things about the Tower as he saw the way Hermione had leaned into the desperate kiss, how hard her arms were around his neck, how deep her moan was…just…how engulfed she was in him. As if they were the only two people in the world. He gripped his hair. The scoreboard he had mentally established within his head was: Malfoy 1. Granger 2. She had successfully broken up with him, and now she had once again hurt him indefinitely.

Trying helplessly to pick up his fallen stomach, Draco had fled the scene.

It had only been six days.

Six measly days and she was with another bloke. Draco wondered if she even cried over him, because he had certainly cried over her. He sat heavily in front of the fire after throwing one of Hermione's favorite novels into the fire, bursting into flames as his molten colored eyes glazed over in anger and pain. Draco Malfoy was again, alone. He had found love in the strangest places—inside the mind, body and soul of Hermione Granger. He thought that after the war he would never find someone to love. With a dead Father and a half-crazy mother, Draco was utterly alone in this strange place called life. It could only explain why he didn't turn away from the opportunity of falling in love with someone, falling in love with Hermione Granger. He wanted to shower her with everything he had stored up in his tiny cage of a heart, because he had never given such a gift away before, and she would be the first and only. He thought, so what, if he had to be nudged in the right direction by Blaise's sick sense of competition…he had found out his deep appreciation and need for the fluffy-haired Gryffindor. Now, she was viciously stomping over his dying heart.

His heart.

Such a rarity within the Malfoy family.

Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
I'm needy
Warm me up
And breathe me

Song by: Sia—Breathe Me

Author's note: DID YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER, MY FRIENDS? I told you if you didn't review Hermione would fall for Ron. Okay, so maybe I gave you all a scare. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up, and it fitted with the chapter. Yay! (No, she does not really love Ron, before you leave me a fearful, angry, howler-equivalent review asking if she does). So I hope you guys liked it. PLEASE! For all you fans who might want to take a break from the DRAMA, please read my new story: The Mudblood and the Ferret…a Romance/Humor story DMHG. Love is a splendid thing to discover, especially when you're in each other's body. Don't get what I'm sayin'? Check the bloody story out! You'll like it, I promise. PLEASE REVIEW! TRY NOT TO BE LIKE A SHREW!

PS: WHO WANTS A TWO-SHOT TO IMPERFECTION? I just wanted to know…maybe I can do something about it, if you guys want me to.