Chapter 21

On Monday morning, Hermione sat at breakfast with the two boys, thinking about what she should do. The weekend had gone by agonizingly slowly, with no sign of Draco at any meal times…He must have taken his meals in the common room. They had potions with the Slytherins later that day…should she try to talk to him then?

She looked across the room. No, he wasn't here, yet. Maybe he was avoiding her, afterall?

Her heart sank. Should she just give it up? Maybe there really isn't anything deeper to the situation; maybe she was reading too much into it. It could be that he was done with her, done trying. He probably just…gave up.

They were, afterall, the most ill-suited couple she could think of.

She finished her breakfast in silence.

The three of them made their way to their first class of the day with the Huffepuffs, History of Magic. For the first time in a long time, she just didn't feel like taking notes. She just sat there, half listening. At one point she noticed Harry giving her a puzzled look, but she refused to meet his eyes. Whatever. Even she was allowed to be in a bad mood once in a while, right? It's not like either of them ever took notes…

As class ended, Hermione hurried to pack away her things. Potions next. She ignored her two friends and rushed from the room.

She really didn't want to give them the impression that she was mad at them, because that wasn't the case. However, she was anxious to talk to Draco…but what if he didn't want to talk to her?

She was so lost in her worry that she didn't even notice the boy waiting outside her History class, leaning against the wall. He stepped in front of her, bringing her to an abrupt and surprised halt.

"Are you ignoring me, now?" Draco asked.

She blinked, trying to wash away her surprise. "Oh, uh…no! I was just in a hurry to get to…class."

"Hmm? I guess that's what I should have suspected; always the academic, eh? But don't think you can get out of your promise."

The rest of the class was pouring out, walking past the two of them. A few students gave them confused looks. A few others looked excited, as if they expected a fight.

"Promise?" She asked, distracted as she saw Ron and Harry exit the classroom. That was the real reason she had hurried; she had hoped to reach the classroom well ahead of her friends so she could talk to Draco. She didn't want them to see her talking to him…it would only make things worse.

"Yes…" he said, eyeing her two friends coming up to them. "You said you'd help me with my homework, right?" he grinned. "Or did you forget?"

She had forgot! And he had even brought it up? So…he didn't want things to just go back to the way they were, afterall? She felt a bit of hope well in her chest.

She nodded. "Sorry, I forgot. You know me: there's nothing I love more than homework!" She laughed, awkwardly. Wow. That sounded really lame. So did the slightly mad laughter. Sigh.

"What about homework?" Ron asked, standing next to her.

Harry was glaring at Draco as he stood on her other side. "What are you doing, Malfoy? Don't you have class or someone to torture or something?"

Draco sneered back. "Don't you have something better to do than stand guard over Hermione like she's a Gringotts vault?"

"Harry, he called her Hermione!" Ron whispered loudly, "That's a good deal different from his usual favorite derogatory term for her, huh?"

Draco didn't have any snappy comeback for that. In fact, he looked a bit…ashamed? Was that right?

"Tsk. Whatever." Draco said after an overly long pause. He walked away from them, in the opposite direction from class.

Hermione would have pointed this out to him, but she didn't want to embarrass him. He would probably circle back around after the three of them made it to class.

She sighed, walking alongside her two old friends.

"You two didn't have to be such jerks…" She said in a low voice, which she almost hoped they wouldn't hear.

Harry sighed. But Ron seemed to get angry, stepping in front of her path. "What do you mean!? We're the jerks? We're talking about Malfoy here, Hermione! Malfoy! How can you just forgive him for everything he's done before!? How can you be nice to him!? How can you want to…to…I don't know, date him? Is that what's going on?"

Hermione blushed. "What…why is that your business? It doesn't matter. I was just talking with him about helping him with his homework, that's all! If I date him or not, it's not up to you." She sighed. "I haven't even decided something like that. I don't even know if he would want to…date me, ok? So just drop the…" She was going to say 'Drop the jealously act,' but thought better of it. "So just drop it." She finished.

Both the boys looked once again like they were going to be sick. Hermione rolled her eyes. It wasn't that bad, was it?

This really wasn't going to get any easier, was it?

***

Draco tried to play it cool as he swung around and began heading in the opposite direction. He hadn't even paid attention to where he was going; his only thought had been to escape. He didn't have any Slytherins with him, afterall…he should have expected her two bodyguards to be on duty. But then that's why he had snuck out of his last class early: he wanted to talk to her where no Slytherins were around. He kinda hated himself for that…he was ashamed to be seen with her. That made him a real jerk, didn't it? Hopefully she didn't notice.

Sigh.

He had given up afterall. He had intended to stay away from her, but he just couldn't. He remembered the promise she had made him, and clung to it as a great excuse to talk to her again…he was doomed.

He stopped just short of the Potions room. Ok, he would go in, and act like nothing had happened. Right?

The minute he entered the room, however, his eyes met hers. She smiled at him, apparently happy he had shown up to class.

He fought the urge to blush at the fact that he had gone in the wrong direction. Great. Of course she had noticed. He hated looking foolish.

What was he going to do? Where was he going with this? Sure, things had happened between them before…he could still remember the taste of her lips….no, bad line of thought!

He plopped down in his seat, frustrated. He would just talk with her, do homework with her. That's all. He had to forget what happened before.

It was too dangerous, the idea that he might….fancy her like that.

Then why even talk with her? Shouldn't he just ignore her?

But he wasn't that strong-willed.

Hence, he was doomed.