Ginny was staring at her wide eyed. Hermione raised an eyebrow and pulled her arm away.
"What's the matter with you today?" Hermione gave an awkward laugh and looked around the hallway.
"Hermione, are you fooling around with Malfoy?" Ginny face showed no emotion. She was serious that she didn't even blink.
"No Ginny! We put on an act to piss off Pansy but that's—"
"That's not what I mean." Ginny's face fell and she looked quickly back and forth, "I think the teacher's have been watching your dorm. I heard Snape talking to Dumbledore about moving you back to our dorms in Gryffindor."
"What, why!?" Why would they have to move her, she hasn't even done anything.
"Something about Malfoy. I don't know Hermione. I know this all sounds weird but, I just don't want you to get blamed for anything he does." Ginny nodded her head, and out of the corner of her eye Hermione could see Draco passing them. He didn't conceal the fact that he was looking at her.
"He hasn't done anything wrong Ginny. Everything is fine. Let's go to breakfast I'm starving." Hermione linked arms with her and they walked slowly to the Great Hall. Hermione sat next to Harry and looked to see if Ron was there. He wasn't.
"What have you been up to?" Harry asked casually.
"Nothing much. Why was Ron looking for me yesterday?" She buttered a piece of toast and stared at Harry. Sighing, he put down his mug of tea and ran a hand through his hair.
"I don't know, but now he's very depressed and not feeling well. I don't know if he will go to his classes today." Harry seemed quite annoyed by Ron's changing attitudes. Hermione could see that Harry and Ginny were staring at each other. They must have been keeping something from her.
"Why is he depressed?" Hermione was bewildered at this point.
"We will both explain it to you later." Ginny said before Harry could answer.
"I wonder when he wants me to tutor him…." Hermione said this to keep the conversation on Ron.
"Oh well…you see Hermione, I don't think you will need to do that. Neville's been helping him…" Harry avoided her eyes as he said this.
"Oh well…I…that's fine. I mean I have to tutor Blaise anyway….Hermione felt a little bit hurt but she just shrugged to hide it.
"It's probably for the best that you don't tutor him Hermione." Ginny said quietly but Harry glared at her.
"Why?"
"No reason Hermione." Harry said before Ginny could answer.
"Please tell me Harry." Hermione looked at him with wide eyes. His face softened and he took one of her hands.
"He's just very upset with you right now. I don't know why he just is. Don't worry about it alright." Hermione just nodded solemnly.
She wanted to cry so badly. Finally she stood up and excused herself from the table. When she got outside of the Great Hall doors she burst out in tears and began to walk very quickly towards the staircase. Suddenly she was pulled to the side and into someone's chest. When she shoved them away she saw it was Draco. She screamed in frustration.
"What are you doing? Following me, watching me, what is it?" She cried.
"I need to talk to you." He murmured and tried to pull her close to him.
"No! Not now, look at me!" She began to sob uncontrollably, "Draco, you can't keep surprising me and acting strange! We will talk later." She ran up the stairs and to the girl's lavatory.
"This is getting to be fucking ridiculous." She muttered as she slammed the door shut behind her.
After she finished wiping off her eye make up that had run down her cheeks, she looked at her self in the mirror. She looked so tired. All she wanted was for this to all be resolved. She kept staring at herself. Suddenly a thought popped into her head. What if Draco does love you?
"Stupid! Don't think about that!" Hermione whispered angrily. She picked up her bag and stormed off to her first class.
During Potions Hermione kept her mind off of Draco by helping Blaise as much as she possibly could. She knew, though, that he was always watching her.
"Hermione…I don't think I'm doing this right." Blaise hesitated with every ingredient, which was good because it meant that he needed her attention almost all the time.
"Why don't you think it's correct?" She asked him.
"Well…I don't know, I mean. No it's right. It is correct." He put it in the cauldron.
"Good job Blaise." She patted him on the shoulder.
"I don't know what to do now though…" He was really quite thick, she thought to herself.
"After the Penny Worms, you need a liquid. Read that." She pointed to his book.
"Oh alright…" He grabbed the small blue vile and began to measure. Hermione decided to make small talk.
"So are you still going with Pansy?" She asked curiously.
"No, we never really were. Just fooling around, you know." He chuckled as he put the liquid in the cauldron.
"Oh I see. Is our tutoring tonight?"
"Yeah I really need you to help me fix my paper before I hand it in." He sounded distant because he was concentrating so much.
"No problem." Hermione tapped her fingers on the table. Truthfully she was bored. Blaise was very nice though, he grew up much over the summer and she had many lovely conversations with him during their tutoring lessons. Although it was mostly small talk. The class ended and she hurried to pack her things.
"So I'll see you tonight?" Blaise asked her.
"Yes of course. See you then." She waved and walked out.
"Hermione I need to talk to you." Draco said as he began to walk after her.
