I'm glad to tell you that I enjoyed every minute of making you believe what you wanted and twisting you to suit my fashion. If I had the chance to do it again, I would. It has been my pleasure screwing you over.
The words tortured her for days as she went from class to class, ignoring the questions, leaving the others for solitude, avoiding the Heads common room and seeking haven in the Library. Hermione didn't know why his words were having this affect on her. She hated him. She despised him yet some part of her ached at the thought that he had kept hold of her because of his own sadistic agenda. She knew that everyone was starting to worry, especially the teachers, who had noticed that her hand was not raised as often as it used to be.
"Hermione?" She looked up to see Harry standing on the other side of the table, looking cautious. She sighed.
"What is it Harry?" she asked, setting down her library book and giving him a questioning stare. He walked around the table, sitting down next to her.
"That's what I want to ask you, Hermione," he said. "You've been acting really weirdly for the past few days. Anthony told me about what Malfoy said to you and I've been wondering if that has had anything to do with it."
"What makes you think Malfoy has anything to do with my attitude of late, Harry?" she asked. He frowned.
"Hermione, you don't still love Malfoy, do you?" he inquired. Her eyes widened.
"Still love Malfoy?" she said incredulously. "How could I still love him?"
"Because you're still letting his words get to you," Harry persisted. "If they didn't bother you, then you wouldn't have cried." She stared at him with disbelief.
"I can't believe you of all people are asking me if I am still in love with that self centered prat! Are you ok, Harry?" He frowned.
"Are you sure you're not acting funny because of what Malfoy said?" She nodded.
"Of course not, Harry," she lied. "His words don't have any affect on me." He got up.
"Ok then," he muttered. "Well, as long if it's nothing big, could you return back to how you were?" She smiled.
"Of course, Harry." She watched as he left the Library, a twinge of guilt eating away at her. She wasn't used to lying to Harry, except when she was with Malfoy. Sighing, she returned to her book.
Ginny paced the common room, waiting nervously for the Seventh years to return from their last classes of the day. The portrait door opened and students flooded in. Harry, Ron, Anthony, and Hermione made their way over to the couch in front of the fireplace. Ginny stopped pacing, her stomach doing back flips.
"What's up, Ginny?" Hermione asked. Ginny began pacing again, running her hands through her hair.
"I really don't know how to start," she told them.
"Well, you could stop pacing," Ron said. She glanced at him, but continued to pace, to nervous to stop.
"When I was walking back from Hagrid's class, Blaise met me halfway up the slope," she began. The boys bristled. "We started walking around the lake as he started talking about nothing in particular." She sighed and looked up at the ceiling, bracing herself. "Then he asked me to marry him." The four on the couch jumped up, shocked and outraged.
"He didn't!" Hermione gasped.
"I'll kill him," Harry growled. Ron was fingering his wand, eyes narrowed.
"What did you say?" he asked. She bit her lip.
"I didn't say anything," she responded. "We had to go to class and I told him I'd answer him later."
"Well, you're just going to have to tell him no," Ron said decisively. Ginny threw herself into a over-stuffed chair, gazing into the fire.
"Why?" she murmured. Harry's eyes bugged out.
"Why? WHY? Because he's a freaking Slytherin, that's why!" he yelled. She glared at him.
"Doesn't matter to me what house he's in," she muttered. She glanced at Hermione. "It shouldn't matter what house he's in or how he acts, as long as he loves me." Hermione frowned but Ginny looked back at Harry. "It's none of your damn business what I answer."
"Ginny, think logically," Anthony said. "Zambini is a self-centered, materialistic jackass with only one thing in mind when he's with a woman. To screw them over." Ginny's ears flamed red.
"I'll have you know that his ideas have taken a violent turn since he's started dating me," she snapped, irritated with the amount of cooperation she was getting from her fellow Gryffindors.
"He also happens to be friends with Draco Malfoy," Ron growled. Ginny stood.
"You're judging him because of who his friends are?" she hissed. "So what if he's friends with Draco Malfoy? They are totally different people! You know what you're problem is, Ron? You're prejudice to everyone that comes from Slytherin. You think that, because some of them hold their blood type on their chest, the rest of them do. You think that, because sometimes Malfoy acts like a complete bastard that the rest of them are assholes too! Well let me tell you something, Ronald Weasley! Not all of us are jackasses like you!" With that, she spun on her heal and stormed up to her room, leaving the common room silent as everyone watched her scarlet hair fly out of sight.
"That ended well," Dean muttered getting up and leaving with Seamus and Neville. "Good job, Ron. You really sorted that out rather well."
"Go to hell," Ron spat. Dean merely rolled his eyes and exited the common room.
Hermione gazed out the window. Ginny had implied something, or everything, when she had said, 'It shouldn't matter what house he's in or how he acts, as long as he loves me.'
But he doesn't love me, she thought. He used me for what he wanted and that's all.
Then why does it bother you so much, came the nasty voice. It bothers you because, somewhere inside of you, there's a void that only Draco Malfoy can fill. Even when it's with words of maliciousness, or cruelty, the void is filled just because you know he sees you and knows you're there, and, even if he hates you with every inch of his being, you know that he's watching you because if he weren't, he would ignore you. And that, above anything, is the worst thing of all.
She shook her head. She hated Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Prince, Son of a Death Eater. And that space inside her would be filled. But not by him.
"You WHAT?"
"Calm down, Draco!"
"Calm down? CALM DOWN! You tell me you asked her to marry you and you want me to calm DOWN! Have you gone stark raving MAD?"
"No, but you have! Now sit down before you get a heart attack!"
"I told you it was ok to date the red head, I never said anything about shoving a ring on her finger and calling it a day! Have you lost your mind?"
"Shut up, Draco!"
"You've only been dating for a few weeks!"
"I know that."
"No, you don't! If you did, than you wouldn't propose this early like a moron would! Good grief! What in Merlin's name possessed you to do something like that?"
"I don't know, I just had to, ok!"
"Listen, Blaise. I'm not mad. I just…I really didn't think you'd pop the question while we're still halfway through school! I'd have thought you'd have waited at least until she was out of school."
"Draco, are you acting this way because you and Granger went out for three years and you never said anything?" Draco was silent for a second.
"Maybe," he answered. Blaise eyed him quizzically.
"You never told her you loved her, did you?" Once again, Blaise had gone straight to the point without getting evidence to support his theory. And, once again, he was right.
"It never felt right," Draco muttered. "Every time I tried to choke it out, I'd end up saying something different. Every time wasn't the right time."
"Draco. Have you ever wondered if any time is going to be the right time?" Draco glanced at him.
"What are you trying to say?" Blaise sighed.
"Look, Draco," he began. "I've been your best mate since we were two. I've never kept anything from you that I thought you needed to know. I've told you the truth in exchange for the truth from you and I've always gotten it. But lately, there has been something that's been bothering me and I haven't told you." Blaise leaned on the balcony ledge of Draco's Head Bedroom. "Have you ever thought that maybe Hermione isn't the girl who was meant to spend the rest of your life with? Have you ever thought that maybe," Blaise turned to him, "maybe you two weren't meant to be together?" Draco stared out over the Hogwarts grounds.
"Every day we were together, I thought about that, Blaise," he muttered. "Everyday we were with each other, I imagined being our last and I tried to say the three words that have evaded me since I was born. Not ever in my life have those words meant anything to me, Blaise. I would say them to girls so I could get what I want, but they never meant anything. Then suddenly, when I really wanted them to mean something, they wouldn't come. My mind, my heart and my soul forbade those words to escape me and it's tortured me ever since. Of course I've thought that maybe we weren't meant for each other. I've accepted defeat, Blaise. She's not mine. She never was and she never will be. That's why I couldn't say it. I could own those other girls; therefore I could tell them whatever I wanted them to hear. But Hermione was different. I couldn't just tell her I loved her. It wouldn't have hurt me to break those other girls' hearts. But Hermione…I couldn't hurt her. So I never said anything. I've been used to being the bastard, the cruel, malicious, conniving, manipulating, egotistical, treacherous Pureblood all my life, Blaise. I always was and I always will. If she can't accept that, then I can't have her and she can't have me. That's the way the world works, Blaise."
"Hey," Anthony greeted, walking over to where Hermione stood alone on the balcony of the Astronomy tower. "What are you doing up here by yourself?"
"Thinking," she told him as he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"Can I join you?" he murmured into her ear. She shivered slightly and snuggled closer to him.
"Of course," she whispered back. He smiled and let go of her, reaching into his pocket.
"I got something for you, Hermione," he said pulling out a silver chain necklace with a ruby hanging from it. She gasped and he smiled, turning her around and placing it around her neck. "A gift," he murmured, gazing into her eyes. "To show you how much I love you." She grinned and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a passionate kiss. His hands moved up her shirt to her bra. She gasped into the kiss but didn't pull away. He smiled slightly into the kiss, waving his wand at the door.
It closed softly and locked.
Ginny found herself outside after dinner, walking around the lake. It was getting cold and she pulled her coat closer around her, shivering slightly.
"Cold?" She smiled and stopped, waiting for Blaise to catch up. He placed his school robes around her. "There! Much better." She smiled, leaning up and kissing him tenderly. He pulled her closer, running his dark fingers through her blood red hair. Her tongue poked at his lips and he opened up, letting their tongues dance together.
They pulled away after a few minutes, breathing deeply. She laid her head upon his chest, listening to his heartbeat. He stroked her hair, resting his chin on top of her head. They both watched the setting sun send soft rays across the lake surface as the Giant squid surfaced.
"Red?" he mumbled.
"Yes, Blaise?" He said nothing and she sighed. "Blaise."
"Red?"
"They're not happy, Blaise. They don't want me to." He reached down and put a finger under her chin, forcing her to look up at him.
"What about you?" he asked. She pulled away from him, staring out at the lake.
"Ron's my brother, Blaise! And I'm pretty sure that the rest of the family will feel the same way."
"So you're basing your decision on what your family thinks?" he asked, disbelief in his voice.
"They're my family, Blaise!" she cried, turning back to him.
"They're your family, but they don't run your life!" he said loudly. She looked away, tears in her eyes. He walked over, touching her face gently.
"Red," he murmured softly. Ginny looked up at him. "If you don't want to, then you don't have to," he told her. She bit her lip, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Blaise…" She looked down at her feet, removing his robes from her shoulders. "I'm sorry," she whispered. He took them.
"Me too," he mumbled. He then turned and continued to walk around the lake, leaving Ginny in tears. She watched him, holding herself.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered again.
A/n: Emotional chapter, I think. A lot of things coming into the open. There are some things that you might need to remember from this chapter, and from the previous chapters, more pacifically, the conversation between Draco and Anthony in the fourth chapter, I think. There is something there you need to keep in mind.