Draco followed Hermione, but stopped dead when he found Harry trying to comfort her. He watched for a minute waiting for a surge of jealousy to rise at the sight of Harry hugging Hermione, but it never happened. Instead he turned and walked down to the lake, where he settled down below a small tree. Its limbs hid him from passersby. No doubt his friends were looking for him; they could do little without their leader. He wondered if they knew about everything that had happened this summer…Probably, but such things didn't matter within the walls of Hogwarts. His connection to Voldemort isn't what had drawn them to him. They all had their reasons though, none of them just wanted to be his friend. Pansy wanted him, Crabbe and Goyle were too dumb to do anything on their own, and Blaise was just hoping to gain Draco's father's favor. Even Hermione didn't just want to be his friend. She needed him to save the world she knew and cared about.
Her friends cared for her, simply because she was Hermione, he envied that. The exception to that being Ron Wesley. He wanted Hermione just like Pansy wanted him. It irked him that she trusted Ron despite the fact he had hidden motives. Ok, maybe they weren't exactly hidden, but they bugged him nonetheless. Draco stared out across the lake, and let his thoughts drift away from him. Distantly he heard someone shuffle behind him, but didn't bother turning around.
"You should be nicer to her."
"Why Blaise?"
"She cares about you."
"Pansy just wants my money."
Blaise grabbed Draco by the collar, and dragged him up. Draco tried to shake him off, but Blaise just snared.
"I don't mean that slag. I mean Hermione. The way she looks at you…"
Blaise's voice dropped off, and he let go of Draco.
"What do you mean the way she looks at me?"
Blaise shook his head in disbelief, and ran his hand through his hair. He started circling the tree they stood under.
"The look she gives you…its like…its like you're all she can see. Wesley sees it too. It's killing him, man. That's why he keeps freaking out at her. He wants her to look at him like that."
"And what about you Blaise? Why does it matter to you?"
"Why does it matter to me? Because she's the answer. She can save us. She can defeat Voldemort without spilling a single drop of blood."
Draco's head flew up and he flew at Blaise smashing him against the wall.
"How…"
"…How do I know?"
Blaise laughed, and pushed him off. Draco glared at him.
"Because I'm not stupid. I do my research. I figured Hermione would be the next Goldwin, she got all the right traits, and you are the only Malfoy heir without Goldwin blood so it only makes sense she was meant to be with you."
"You might want to try telling her that," mumbled Malfoy.
"Oh she knows," Blaise sighed, "if you could just see how much she has fallen for you already."
"Whatever."
They sat in silence for a while. Draco wondering if Hermione really did care for him, and Blaise wondering if Draco would be able to step up and accept what he needed to do.
Hermione made her way to detention with Harry and Ron. Ron walked several feet behind them, grumbling.
"Oh come off it, Ron! All I did was look at him."
"It wasn't the fact you looked at him, it was how you looked at him."
Hermione rolled her eyes and sped up her pace, leaving Harry behind as well and bet both of them to Snape's office by a good 5 minutes. He looked up at her and sneered.
"10 points from Gryffindor."
"WHY?!"
"Because your early."
Instead of protesting Hermione fell silent. Snape studied her for a moment.
"You will be cleaning out my old jars tonight."
"What about Ron and…"
"Don't worry about them."
Snape turned. Hermione followed him down the hall into a smaller room, which was filled with jars that had once held potion ingredients. She grimaced when she saw a jar still half full of frog intestines.
"Better get started, you can't go until after you finish…oh and most of these things won't come off with magic."
Hermione sighed, she had figured as much. Snape left, and she settled down to start scrubbing. As she did, her thoughts drifted back to earlier that day. The more she thought about it the more it hurt her. She had expected more from Draco. He had seemed pretty set on them being "soul mates" or whatever, but then he had completely dismissed her for the likes of Pansy Parkinson. Maybe he didn't really care about her at all. Maybe he didn't want to go to Swansea with her on Saturday. She continued scrubbing the jar; there was a red spot on the jar she couldn't get off. Suddenly she stopped. It wasn't a spot. It was reflection. She watched it carefully, trying not to alert it of her knowledge of it. It was some sort of creature, which stood at least 9 foot tall. She tried to make out more of the creature in the reflection. Footsteps sounded down the hallway, and its' head shot up. Hermione spun around, but it was gone before she got a chance to look at it.
Snape walked into the room, he looked disappointed.
"All students have been ordered to their dorms."
"Why?"
"Headmaster's orders."
Hermione headed out the door, and sighed. Snape was one of the most annoying people she had ever met. She could feel his eyes on her back until she turned to corner, at which point she turned away from the head's dorms, heading farther into the dungeons.
Draco paced the common room. He needed to apologize to Hermione for dissing her. He was worried though. All students had been ordered to return to their dorms two hours ago, and she still hadn't showed. Maybe she had gone to the Gryffindor common room. She was probably mad at him. He hadn't even acknowledged her today, and they had been close enough to dating. Ok, so maybe he hadn't asked her but he wanted to. He continued to pace. Where could she be?
