Chapter 14

Over

"She's looking better," Mr. Granger stood in the kitchen, looking at Draco.

"Yeah," Draco nodded thinking back about a week ago when he came in to find her crying in her bathroom.

"I'm not talking about the cancer," Mr. Granger took out a water bottle from the fridge and turned to get a good look at the boy. "I may be old, but I'm not stupid."

"Certainly not," Draco shook his head and cleared his throat.

"She's happier when you're around, Draco." He paused, "I assume you two are…"

"Together," Draco finished his sentence.

"You told us when we first met that you were a new friend." Mr. Granger took a drink.

"Yes, well that's not entirely a lie," Draco replied, "I didn't want to tell you that we were together until I knew she was okay with me being the one to tell the two of you. To be honest, sir, I wasn't sure if we really were."

"Well, I respect the fact that you respect her," Mr. Granger walked down the hall and went to his room.

Draco made his way back to Hermione's room where he saw her packing her bag to go back to school. He was glad that she was doing better, but he knew that she was going to go through a lot going back. His biggest fear was how Ron was going to handle the whole situation. He picked up a sock that she had dropped on the floor and put it in the suitcase. Turning over to see her, he gave her a gentle smile. She had cut her hair recently in a pixie cut style to maintain it better. Standing up on her tip toes, she gave him a kiss.

"Luna, I'm sorry," Ron stopped her in the hallway.

"It's fine," She shook her head, "You were really upset, I shouldn't have—"

"No, this is my fault, not yours," He said, "If there is any way I can make it up to you…"

"If you could stop apologizing, that would be great." Luna paused, "You don't have to explain anything to me, okay? I would just like to move on and pretend it didn't happen."

"I can't do that," Ron moved closer to her.

"Please," Luna stopped him from getting closer, "Just—just give me time or…something,"

Ron watched the girl walk away from him. He leaned up against the stone wall and tried to calm himself down. He hated what he was becoming and it was evident that everyone else hated it too. Looking down the hall, he saw Draco and Hermione walking with their fingers interlocked. Practically running to her, he dropped his bag on the ground. When he got to her, he put his arms around her and almost pushed her to the ground with the force of this action. Letting her go, he kept his closeness to her and looked at her sincerely.

"Your hair…" He whispered as he looked at her more closely, "Hermione, it…it looks good." He caught himself from falling into another hole. "Hermione, do you think that we could talk? It would only take a moment there's just a few things I need to discuss with you."

"I'd love to talk to you," Hermione answered, "But I have a lot to do today since it's my first day back and I'm not really going to have time. But once things settle down and I get myself on a schedule, I'll come talk to you, okay?"

Ron didn't know what to say to this, so he didn't say anything at all. He felt angry that he had to keep waiting, he hated the way he was being treated. Maybe he did over step in their relationship, maybe he took charge and demanded everything, but hadn't he had enough? Keeping his cool and simply stepping out of their way, he gave out a small sigh. How was it that Draco Malfoy, the most irresponsible student in the whole world was holding Hermione Granger's hand, the brightest witch that the school had ever seen? Ron bit his bottom lip harshly as he looked down the hall to see Harry rushing towards him. But when he saw that Draco and Hermione had already passed by, he slowed down his pace and caught his breath. It was evident that he hadn't made it over to Ron quick enough.

"I take it you talked?"

"She's too busy for me," Ron picked up his bag, "Well, that's just fine, because I'm too busy for her too."

Harry felt Ron brush past him angrily.

When they strolled into their first hour, Draco made sure that Hermione sat next to him. Theo and Blaise sat on the other side of Draco. They were the only two Slytherin's that were okay with Hermione shifting to their side of the room. Hermione caught Pansy's glance quite a few times and it threw her off guard. Moving closer to Draco, she tried to keep her head down. She didn't like all of the attention she was getting, but she had expected as much for her first day back. Hermione had been gone for quite a while which was highly unusual, she cut her hair really short and on top of it, she was practically sitting in Draco's lap through every class. She couldn't help how clingy she looked sitting so closely next to him though; she only found comfort in him anymore.

"Hermione, what's going on?" Draco took her by the hand after class ended.

"What?" She looked at him with a fake smile.

"You've been acting…different all day. Is everything alright?" He led her out into the hallway.

"Um, everyone just kept looking at me. People were talking about me—I heard them whispering and some were passing notes…and Pansy kept giving me these death glares…" She paused as she tried to control her emotions. She didn't need to cry on her first day back to school.

"It will get better," Draco said, "It was just the first day back."

Hermione nodded as they went and sat down in study hall. Susan and Darrel went to speak, but Draco gave them a look which warned them to keep their mouths shut. So instead they just dismissed themselves and left the two alone. Draco pulled out his drawing pad that he used to draw in whenever he had study hall. Hermione saw him open up to the page with the sketch of the woman on it. This time she stood up next to him and looked down at it. The longer she looked at it, the more she was able to catch on to who he had been drawing.

"Is that…me?" She questioned.

"It's a mixture of you…" He began, "And a mixture of what I thought Juliet would look like."

"Juliet? From…Romeo and Juliet?" She laughed slightly.

"Yeah, it's stupid," He put his sketchbook away.

"No, not it's not…it's just…I didn't get it before." Hermione looked at him, "But now I do."

The two stared at each other for a quick moment. Draco moved closer to Hermione and leaned upward to kiss her, but before he could do anything, someone interrupted them.

"Draco," A man demanded from the doorway.

Hermione and Draco both turned to see the man dressed in black at the entrance. Feeling a bit light headed, Hermione put her hand on the table to support herself. Draco quickly stood up and made sure she was alright. Giving him a slight nod, she looked back towards the door where she found Lucius Malfoy standing with his cane propped up against the wall. She noted how he kept his gaze on his son and wouldn't allow himself to look at her.

When the end of the hour came around, Draco still wasn't back yet. So Hermione just headed off to her next class, but he didn't show up there either. After last hour, she decided to go searching for him. But he wasn't anywhere to be found. Deciding to head back up to her dorm, she saw someone from the corner of her eye. Looking back, she saw the figure moving closer to her at a fast pace.

"Pansy, I don't want any trouble, okay?" Hermione started off, "I don't want to fight with you anymore, I'm sick of this. I physically can not deal with you."

"Yeah, I heard about your cancer." She crossed her arms, "I'd say I'm sorry to hear about it, but I'm not."

"Great, well hope I don't see you around," Hermione went to walk away, but the girl grabbed her harshly.

"Pansy—"

"Just listen to me, mudblood, and I won't hurt you." Pansy warned as she looked up and down the halls. "I don't know why he's continuing to pursue you, but he obviously is. So I wanted to tell you that you can have him and that's fine, because…well Draco and I sort of have a deal set up."

"A deal?" Hermione crossed her arms and cleared her throat quietly.

"Yes," She nodded, "Before you left to go to the hospital…the day before actually, Draco paid me a special visit. We decided that if something happens to you, you know, with your cancer and all…I'd take over your role. And for the time being, while you're in such…terrible health condition, we agreed that he could stay with you during the day, as long as he returns to me at night."

"You're delusional," Hermione shook her head, "Draco would never do that. I don't believe you."

"Well, I just wanted you to know that your relationship has my blessing as long as my relationship with him has yours." Pansy stood confidently before the girl.

"Well, I would bless you and your relationship, but I'm afraid you can't bless the devil." Hermione turned away from her sharply and headed up to her dormitory.

Hermione sat down on her bed and looked at her hands which were beginning to shake. Getting up and trying to clear her mind, she went through her homework to make sure she had completed everything. Looking across the room, she noticed that she was still alone. Opening the drawer in her nightstand she realized that she had kept the white rose that Draco had given to her in there this whole time. Holding it in her hand tightly, she noticed how the ends were frayed and how brown the rose had become. Though she could remember how beautifully white and innocent the flower once was, it was now turning dark and cold. The door opened abruptly and it made Hermione jump ten feet in the air.

"Granger," Draco was out of breath, "I was looking everywhere for you,"

"You don't need to watch over me all the time." She snapped.

"Okay…" He said, pretty confused.

"What did your father say?" She sat back down on her bed, quickly putting the flower behind her pillow so he didn't see it.

"He apparently found out about my absences and came to talk to me about the Malfoy reputation, it's nothing new. But it doesn't matter," Draco shrugged. "So anyway, have you thought about what we talked about last night?"

"Yeah," Hermione answered, "Listen, I didn't…I didn't tell you this before and I guess I should have, but um...I've been going through chemo therapy, because…well, that's what you wanted."

"Really?" He smiled, "Granger, you don't have to do that because of me, I just…I want you to want to do it yourself, not because I made you."

"It's not that big of a deal," Hermione said in an irritated way.

"Have you eaten dinner?" He moved closer to her.

"Yeah, I had some crackers or something," She bit her bottom lip.

"Did you take your medicine?" He noticed her frigid movements.

"Draco…" Hermione started.

"I know, I know," He laughed, "I just…I'm worried okay, I really am worried. Can you blame me though? It's your first day back and my damn father just walks in here like some big shot or something…"

"Draco," Hermione repeated herself.

"But everything is going to be okay, I know it will be, Granger…" His voice trailed off.

"Did you sleep with her?" Her gaze shot up to his.

"What?" He took a step away from her.

"Did you sleep with her?"

"What are you talking about?" Draco's expression changed completely.

"Pansy; did you or did you not sleep with her?" Hermione stood from her bed.

"I slept with her multiple times, it wasn't like it was a secret. But that was before anything ever happened between us…" Draco started and then he stopped. In his mind he immediately had flashbacks of when he saw Hermione sitting with Harry. He had just assumed that night that there was something going on between them. When he was with Pansy that night it was out of pure anger, out of pure frustration and it didn't even matter to him. That was why he hadn't brought it up to her. He felt nothing for Parkinson, so he didn't really think that that counted.

"You slept with her the night before you took me to Lakeshore hospital, didn't you?" Hermione took a deep breath.

"Granger," He shook his head, "You don't understand, I was heading down the stairwell, and I saw you and Harry. He told you that he loved you and you said it back. I saw the way you held onto him, Granger. I just…I thought that you were having a thing with him too."

"We love each other because we're best friends, Draco! Nothing more than that." Hermione shouted.

"I didn't know, okay?! You were with Ron, you weren't with Ron, you were with me, you weren't, I didn't know what to think! I was mad, I was frustrated and she was there!" He defended himself.

"That's typical, Draco!" She cried, "Did you make an agreement with her too?"

"An agreement?" Draco moved closer to her, "Listen, if Pansy told you some ridiculous rumor, then let it die because I would never do anything to hurt you."

"You know, you keep saying that, but you keep hurting me!"

"And you keep hurting me!" Draco responded.

"We keep hurting each other. So maybe it's just time to end this." Hermione rubbed her forehead. "I think we both knew that this was going to happen some way or another. It was only a matter of time before things got back to normal and we realized how different we truly are. We just needed to be reminded of that again, I guess."

"You're really willing to just throw everything we've been through away?" Draco looked her in the eye.

"That night, you threw me away." She pointed out.

"We were in love when you and Ron were still dating, Granger! At least I had the decency to do it behind closed doors and not in bloody front of you!" He sighed.

"I was not in love with you!" She turned away from him, "I was not in love with you…"

"Well are you in love with me now?" Draco asked in an almost hopeful voice. But Hermione kept her gaze on the window and refused to say anything more to him. So he left since that's obviously what she wanted. Walking down the hall he played the day's events over in his head. How had this all just fallen apart? In the morning they were completely fine and here they were now, just…over.