been a while since i last updated, sorry. midterms, ugh. but here it is! (:


Chapter Twelve

Hermione blinked, her eyes dropping immediately, biting back the un-helpable frustration that washed over her.

That was seven times that Snape had met her eyes, expectedly, waiting for her to raise her hand to answer every question of his like she always did.

She wanted to, but she couldn't. The muscles in her arm tingled painfully, longing to move, reminding her that she hadn't moved that arm in a while and it had fallen asleep.

All throughout his class, her mind just wouldn't focus on what he was saying. Every time she tried, she couldn't pick up on anything.

She watched as Snape silently sighed, annoyed, before he continued his stride across the front of the room, beginning his lecture again.

Her jaw tensed and she stared hard down at her desk.

She almost scoffed, a habit she had picked up on from—

Her fists tightened. She looked up and tried again, fruitlessly trying to listen to Snape's lecture.

She had always been so good in defense against the dark arts but as of lately she was doing terribly.

Her participation grade was dropping every day. It didn't help that after each class she was failing; Draco would stare at her as she walked past him, not saying a single word.

Although, she was sure he didn't want her to even look at him in the presence of his ruffian friends.

Still, his stare was persistent, expectant, of what, she couldn't care to know. Words would've helped but... like she noticed, he never spoke to her. She wasn't sure she wanted to speak to him anyway.

A week had passed since she had called off the deal and trudged back to Hogwarts, back to her dorm, back to her bed. Where she had just sat in pure silence and thought of nothing.

After about an hour, she had stopped, straightened herself up, and called home. She had disappeared for the rest of the weekend and then returned to classes regularly, busying herself after each class so if she had run into Ron and Draco, she wouldn't have time to chat.

That was how it had been.

For the last week, she had been trying to go back to her normal self. No more using study periods to meet up with Draco. No more skipping out on dinner because she couldn't stand to watch the person she loved, love someone else.

Everything had gone back to normal. Well, as normal as things could be in this mess.

The sound of books being shoved into bags brought her back to reality. She looked around to see Snape disappearing behind a storage room in the back of the class.

She inhaled, getting up and gathering her stuff.

She swallowed as she put her books away.

Next period was a study period. She prayed that thatwould be what it turned out to be really.

Her mouth quirked hopefully as she made her way out the door and to the library, where she did her usual studying.

A shudder ran through her back as she met eyes with Draco.

He was leaning against the dark stone wall about ten feet away from her, his rude friends scattered about him.

Pansy stood in front of him, her back to Hermione. She was picking at her perfectly manicured nails, kudos to the nail painting spell she had picked up from a beauty book in the library. Her jaw was moving as she talked to Draco who was clearly not listening, as his eyes were glued to Hermione's.

She stopped in place, inhaling and staring back. Her arms were tensed and at her sides.

Just as always, his face was blank. There was no telling what he was thinking.

She broke contact and stalked forward in a brisk stride. She held her chin high, keeping her eyes forward as she passed him. Still, his eyes burned holes into her.

But she kept breathing, trying not to let it show that his intense stare and hidden judgmental thoughts didn't affect her, even though they did. She didn't know who she was trying to fool.

Definitely not Draco, seeing as he knew everything, and definitely not herself.

Still a thought sat at the back of her head, hopeful and barely alive, trying to convince her that he didn't, in fact, know everything. That he was just Draco Lucius Malfoy, a bully, an enemy, nothing more.

She wanted to forget she ever attempted to win Ron back with him. The things she did with him— she shuddered.

She was still holding her breath after she had arrived at the library's doors. She stood still in front of them for a while, her mind blank.

She peered into the glass, a banner taped to the back wall catching her eye.

It read 'The Yule Ball' in bold, black capital letters. An arrow pointed down to a bookcase, showing the bookcase had something to do with the Yule Ball.

She huffed loudly, unable to hold back. She'd been trying to forget about the Yule Ball but it seemed to be plastered on every wall in Hogwarts.

It was a huge, fancy ball that Hogwarts held five days before Christmas. Every student was encouraged to go, alone or not. The professors took time out of their classes, excluding Snape, to give advice and etiquette lessons to prepare the obnoxious males and unlady-like females that attended Hogwarts.

She didn't have anyone to go with and she didn't feel up for dancing so she planned on skipping out.

But posters came up everywhere, reminding her about the event.

Her hands hesitated to push open the library door. She suddenly didn't want to study there, even though she always did it there.

Her face contorted as she racked her brain for an answer. She desperately needed to catch up on Snape's lecture and find out what he was talking about the whole class period. Still, her hands wouldn't open the door. They shook and trembled at her side.

There was no way she was going to go in there, only to have to stare at her embarrassing fate plastered up on a wall the whole time.


Hermione felt the heavy stack of books in her hands tilting to one side and she swerved her body to catch them before they fell over. As soon as she did that, she crashed into the wall, causing them to go the opposite direction. Once again, she swerved like a car across the hallway, catching them.

Her knees buckled and she crouched immediately, stilling the stack of books. Slowly she stood, making sure they were perfectly aligned underneath her chin before continuing her way to the old, abandoned music room.

She came to a stop at the door, eyeing the handle behind the huge stack of books in front of her.

Her knees quivered dangerously underneath the weight of the books. She bit her lip, balancing the books between one hand and her chin, reaching into her robe pocket to pull out her wand.

With a flick, it glowed at the end. She stuck the end in her mouth, careful not to bite down to create indentations in the dark wood it was made of. With her free hand, she grabbed the cold, cast iron handle and pushed inward.

She must've pushed too hard, as the door swung open with such ferocity it collided with the wall behind it, ricocheting back and hitting her and her colossal stack of books. She stumbled back, seeming to collect her footing before the books went the opposite way, falling forward.

She tried to scuffle forward, trying to balance them out and catch them before they fell. Unfortunately, she slipped. Her wand fell out of her mouth as she shrieked, books flying everywhere as she met the floor.

She landed on her pile of books. Groaning, she sat up, rubbing her forehead where a book's spine had smashed into it.

She searched the floor for her wand. Her eyes caught a small ball of light, lighting up everything around it as it rolled across the floor. She got onto her hands and knees, reaching with one hand towards her wand.

It came to a stop at a pair of shoes. Dark black loafers, that probably cost more than Hermione's life, came into view due to the light.

Hermione's eyes narrowed as pale fingers appeared through the glow of her wand, reaching down and gingerly lifting it up.

Her eyes followed the path of light till it stopped, resting vertically beside Draco's smirking face.


yes, i DID change the yule ball. oh well. oh and review!