Chapter Eleven
A/N: Hi guys! Sorry this update took so long coming compared to others, I've had a very busy week at school. Please please please leave a review telling me your thoughts on this chapter and the story as a whole as it is greatly appreciated and it really motivates me! Thank you!
As the four of them danced, a crowd began to gather around them. People were smiling and clapping as they watched, and Hermione grinned as she moved to the music. Who would have known they'd be such a hit!
When the music came to the end, they all struck a fierce ending pose, laughing together, even Draco. The crowd clapped and cheered, and a few through some coins onto the floor at their feet.
As the coins landed on the street with a clink, all three Slytherins jumped back in shock, regarding the items with immense suspicion.
"Do you think they've cursed them?" Blaise whispered to Draco, who only shrugged, still glaring at the money.
Hermione burst out laughing.
"Guys, there is nothing wrong with the money. Look, see?" she bent down and retrieved a coin of the floor, holding it up for them to see.
"Don't touch that!" Draco exploded, knocking the coin out of Hermione's hand. "You don't know what they've done to it! Why else would they throw it on the floor directly in front of us? It's clearly some kind of trap!"
Still laughing, Hermione shook her head. "I forget that you guys really don't know anything about the muggle world. So in a big city like London, if someone is performing in the street it's courtesy to leave them a little money if you enjoyed the performance. I didn't think to tell you guys before because I didn't even imagine that people would do that for us."
Daphne nodded slowly in understanding. "So it's sort of like the thing where you leave money for the waitress in a restaurant."
"Exactly!" Hermione smiled. "And I promise that none of the money is cursed," she chuckled, glancing at Draco. He blushed slightly. "I'm sorry, it's just my nature. Suspect everything, trust nothing."
Hermione shrugged. "I suppose that's what it must be like in Slytherin. I never thought about it until now, but it must be quite a difficult house to live in, if you always have to watch your back like that."
Blaise smirked. "The Gryffindor princess feeling sorry for Slytherins? I never thought I'd see this day. I suppose you Gryffindor's think everyone is all happy families just like you lot, all cosying up together in the common room."
Hermione snorted. "Trust me, its not all happy families." She remembered all the arguments she'd had with Ron, all the times she'd told them off for not studying or doing something reckless. "The trouble is, some Gryffindor's are just too brave fro their own good."
All three Slytherin's smirked at her, and it was only then that she realised she had voiced her last thought out loud.
"No! I don't mean it like that! I love Harry and Ron as if they were my brothers, but it's just that sometimes they really don't think things through," she tried to make it seem better but the damage was already done.
"Who knew? The golden trio isn't all fun and games after all. Turns out that Potthead really does annoy everyone who ever existed, not just us Slytherins. Not to mention Weasel. He's going to get himself killed one day by his own stupidity." Draco smirked.
Daphne and Blaise laughed, but Hermione just frowned. She had thought that the Slytherin's were actually decent human beings, but now she wasn't so sure. Harry and Ron were her friends, couldn't her teammates see that by insulting them they were hurting her? Or maybe that was their intention all along, she thought silently. Pretend to be friends so their scathing remarks hurt even more.
Daphne frowned as she saw the look on Hermione's face. "Hermione? Come on, Draco was only kidding. Lighten up little."
"Granger, don't be upset, we were only teasing. Trust a Gryffindor like you to take things so seriously." Draco said.
"Oh, so it's back to Granger is it? What's next? Calling me mudblood again?" she spat, spinning on her heal and plunging into the throng of people making their way down the street.
"Hermione! Please! Come back!" she could hear them calling from behind her, but she ignored it, furiously brushing a stray tear from her cheek. She would not cry for them. She wouldn't let herself.
Hermione knew that she was overreacting but their comments hurt. She had thought they were beginning to accept her, Daphne and Blaise at least, but now she wasn't so sure.
One thing was for definite though; she was never going to let them in again. Who knew what their real motives were? This could be some elaborate plan to catch her off guard, make her do something reckless.
Diving down a side lane, she stopped when she felt she was out of site from the street and leant against the wall to compose herself. She would have to go back and find them, McGonagall would kill her if she left them in the middle of London all by themselves, but they could survive for a few more minutes on her own.
Hermione watched her reflection in a broken piece of mirror lying on the floor. With the back of her hand, she tried to wipe away any trace of the tears that had fallen down her face, just a voice cut across the street, a voice that made chills run down her spine, yet made her heart flutter all at the same time.
"Hermione."
She could here him moving towards her, even though his feet were softer than those of a cat on the cobbled street.
"We didn't mean it like that."
Something in his voice made her want to look up at him, but she stubbornly kept her eyes firmly trained on the ground.
"It's just how we are. Slytherin, it's different. If you show one ounce of weakness, they pounce, like vultures on a corpse. You might as well be dead."
She could imagine him running a hand through his hair, tussling it in frustration as he tried desperately hard to explain to her. Yet she still refused to meet his eye.
"Please 'Mione. I don't know if you mind me calling you that, and I'm sorry if you do, but I really don't know what else to say. I'm sorry."
Her lips curled into a small smile, and she turned slowly to look into his eyes. His usually steel orbs were a soft silver, looking almost remorseful. If Draco Malfoy could ever be remorseful
"Well well well. It turns out Draco Malfoy knows how to apologise. Who would have thought?"
He smirked at her. "I can surprise people, even you, Little Miss Know-It-All. There's things even you don't know about me."
Hermione usually hated it when anybody called her that, but coming from Draco it didn't sound like an insult, so she let it slip, along with his use of the nickname 'Mione earlier, which she detested. Again, coming from him, it sounded different.
No. Draco Malfoy was an evil little ferret, and it didn't matter how good it sounded when he said her name like that, because he was still a cruel and horrible person.
At least that's what Hermione tried to tell herself as she followed him out of the side street into the busy throng of London shoppers.
Another A/N: Hi guys! Same message as before, please leave a review! Hope you liked it, more coming soon!