THE PINK UMBRELLA
A/N: New chapter...
Disclaimer: I don't own HP.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: IN ONE COMPARTMENT
Hermione's POV:
I woke up the next morning by the sound of clicking trunks and excited whoopings of my roommates.
I opened my eyes slowly and saw Parvati and Lavender all dressed up, ready to leave and their trunks were standing still on the ends of their beds.
"Good morning, Hermione!" Lavender greeted me cheerfully after noticing my eyes were open and staring at them.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Good morning too, Lavender. And you too, Parvati."
Parvati and Lavender smiled a big warm, happy smile.
"You better get ready, Hermione. We're going to leave after breakfast." Lavender said, pulling her scarf around her.
"We'll be down in the Great Hall, Hermione. See ya there!" Parvati said before excitedly jogging away with Lavender.
I stood up and fixed my bed. I took a quick but utterly hygienic bath. I dressed up and made sure my trunk had everything I ought to bring home. When I was positive enough, I rushed off downstairs to the Common Room. Immediately, I saw Ron and Harry talking near the portraitl hole, waiting for me. They raised their heads to my direction and smiled upon seeing me.
"Hey, how long have you been waiting?" I asked them after reaching Harry's side.
"Not so long. C'mon, we better get going or else we wouldn't be fed well before leaving Hogwarts."
Ron ushered us to go out of the common room.
I rolled my eyes and so did Harry. He was thinking about food again. What a glutton, he was.
On our way, Ron kept talking about how excited he was, going home, back to his mother who loved them so much and who cooked really delicious and mouth-watering food for them. Harry and I exchanged knowing looks behind Ron's back while he was busy ranting dreamily about being so lucky to have such a mother whom anyone would pay just to be their personal cook.
He only stopped talking when we finally reached the Great Hall. He sat hungrily and without wasting a millisecond, reached for a pair of chicken legs and shoved it into his mouth together.
I threw him a disgusted look, which he ignored, and sat on my usual place across him and Harry. Ginny joined us after a little while and sat beside Harry. She made annoying sounds after seeing Ron reach for a plate of Jell-O and deviously spooned everything to his own plate.
She shook her head when Ron innocently shrugged at her and said he was hungry.
I chuckled at the scene before me. They really were cute when they fight. Well, not if they started throwing hexes at each other, though.
I looked around the Great Hall and noticed everyone already wearing their normal Christmas clothes; Beanies on their head, thick gloves on their hands, scarves around their necks, thick and warm sweater on their upper body, tight lower clothings, and boots. Everyone were beaming, glad to be coming home.
I rested my gaze on the Slytherin table and saw Malfoy eating pudding. He was very much into pudding ,I had noticed. He raised his head and met my eyes. I smiled at him and so did he.
He focused on eating again, his smile slipping away from view. There was something wrong with the way his eyes looked at was...some hint of sadness I couldn't explain.
What was wrong with him again?
Was he sad? Why? About what?
Oh, I got...because of Pansy Parkinson...as always.
I sighed and finished my food. Before leaving the Great Hall, I took another quick glance at him and there it was...clear and was painted all over his face... sorrow.
Big, fat sorrow.
We walked to the Hogsmeade station for the train back to King's Cross. I stuffed my trunk at the back of the train and placed Crookshanks, my cat, with all other pets. Harry, Ron, Ginny and me walked inside the train to search for an empty compartment. We quickly found one and suited our selves in it. Harry and Ginny sat beside each other across me and Ron.
They were talking all by themselves, not caring about the world and forgetting two other people were there with them, watching their sweet scene, slowly developing diabetes, and were desperate to get out of boredom.
"This is so sick." I heard Ron mutter beside me. I turned my head and saw him, glaring obliviously to the couple before us with his arms crossed against his chest.
"Just leave them alone. They seem to be enjoying forgetting us." I said loudly. But my attempt to gain back their attention failed. They continued giggling and humoring each other.
"They do." Ron said bitterly before rolling his eyes and looked at me.
"Well, why don't we just do our prefect duties,then?" I suggested.
He nodded and stood up energetically.
I looked at him questioningly and he grinned.
"After rounding the compartments, I'm going to stay with Lav. I bet she'll like it." he said grinning broadly.
"So, are you two together officially?" I asked.
He shook his head, still smiling. "Soon." he said sheepishly.
I chuckled and stood up. We went out of our compartment and started rounding the train.
As Ron promised, after 2 and 1/2 hours of rounding, he went to Lavender's compartment and stayed with her. I walked back alone to our compartment but before opening I stopped shortly.
Harry and Ginny were kissing. Passionately.
My mouth gaped and I stared at them. I don't think I should be disturbing them at the moment.
They seemed to be... in a very intimate moment.
With one last look, I walked away. I just kept walking until I realized I didn't know where I was going. Where else could I stay? Right, the prefects compartment was the perfect place. I bet no prefect even stayed just chose to stay with their housemates and do some...intimate kissing like Harry and Ginny.
I walked straight to the prefect compartment right in the front part of the train. I was about to slide the door open, when I peeked inside and found one -very glum looking- prefect sitting beside the window, looking outside.
I smiled and slid the door to the compartment and entered. The blonde Slyherin prefect looked at me to know who just ruined his lone moments.
I smiled again and sat to the seat across him, beside the window.
"Hi, Malfoy." I greeted him. "Didn't expect you to be here." I said honestly.
He looked outside the window again before answering in a low, silent voice.
"There's nowhere else I could stay."
I looked at him sadly. I couldn't take it, seeing him so lonely again. It was heartbreaking.
"How about in the Slytherin compartment?" I asked. "Didn't you always stay there everytime?"
He looked at me again. I felt jolt of lightning as I met his gaze. He shook his head slowly and smiled half-heartedly.
"I don't want to be with Crabbe and Goyle. Not until they make up and be friends again. And Zabini kept pestering me to play wizard's chess with him. I'm not in the mood."
I nodded. "So, what do you usually do here in the train?" I asked willing to cheer him up again.
He stared at me for a moment and looked away, back to the window.
"Nothing. Just be with..." he trailed off. He sighed unhappily.
I stared at him. Of course, his sadness had something to do with Pansy...he couldn't be happy without her.
I leaned closer and took his hand that was leaning on his lap. I immediately felt electricity again, running through my body but still continued holding him. He looked at me with puzzled look on his face.
"Don't worry, Draco. Pansy will be okay. She'll be back soon and you can resume spending time with her again." I smiled warmly at him.
He looked surprised for a while, but smiled thankfully afterwards. He nodded and I unwillingly let go of his hand.
"Thank you, Granger." He said after a whole minute of silence.
"No problem, Malfoy. I'm always here for you." I said truthfully.
He looked back outside the window a little less unhappy this time. There was a little smile on his face and his eyes started glowing again. I was glad I knew ways to cheer him up.
"Malfoy," I said suddenly.
He looked at me with two eyebrows raised. "Yeah?"
"Can I..." I hesitated.
"Uh..." I looked down at my shoes and desperately rubbed my hands together. 'I can do this...I can do this!'
I looked up at him and saw his eyebrows bent sideways, meeting ech other in the center. He looked confused.
"Can I...sit?" I finished stupidly.
"Huh?"
I mentally slapped myself. Oh god, I sounded so idiotic. Why was I asking him if I could sit when I already was? STUPID. Completly and utterly FOOLISH!
"I mean, can I sit beside you?" I asked again. Thankfully, it sounded normal already.
He looked at me uncertainly before nodding slowly. I exhaled heavily and stood up to move beside him.
I was so tensed beside him. I was afraid to move any muscle. I had been beside him a couple times now, but I never felt so awkward before. Damn it.
"Are you okay, Granger?"
I tilted my head to glance at Malfoy who was looking down at me worriedly.
"Yeah, yeah of course!" I replied frantically. I forced a nervous smile.
"But why are you sitting so stiffly? You look like you've been petrified. Relax, okay? I'm not gonna attack you." he smiled and I nodded and smiled back.
I finally slouched and loosened my muscles. I was breathing rather fastly realizing that I was also holding my breath when I moved beside him.
Satisfied to see me comfortable, Draco went back to gazing outside his window.
A/N: rather short...what do you think? REVIEW please :)