Chapter 29
It was awful. The whole thing. Hermione couldn't handle…well, everything.
She met up with Ginny first thing, and stayed with Ginny. From one wake, to the funeral, to the next wake, to the next funeral…
That meant, of course, that she also stayed with Harry and Ron. Poor Ron. Poor Ginny.
She tried her best to comfort them, but that would be an impossible task. You can't take away someone's pain with words, no matter how much you wish you could.
It didn't help that she felt an invisible tension between her and Harry the whole time. She tried to ignore it. This wasn't about Harry, or her, or Draco. This was about the people who died and their families.
But it was hard to completely ignore Harry's glares whenever she hugged Ron, or patted his shoulder. It was all polite; she never felt she had led him on in the first place. She wasn't trying to hurt him! All this she tried to say with her eyes to Harry, but he was obviously not ready to forgive her anything, yet.
But it was finally over. She said her goodbye's to the Weasleys and made her way outside the crowd to where she could disapperate.
But Harry followed her outside the building. She knew he was there, but she really didn't want to talk to him. Finally he caught up to her and grabbed her elbow.
"What is you problem?" He asked her, turning her around.
"Me? What's your problem?" She fought the urge to yank her arm away from him; he was her friend. She wanted to be friends again, even if he was acting like a jerk.
He looked sad for a moment, then dropped her arm. "Look…just….Ginny told me to talk with you later. I'll be by in a couple of hours, after I get her home, ok?"
Hermione's face softened. She nodded.
"Ok…see you then." He said, and turned away.
She disapperated back to her living room, happy that he was at least willing to talk.
***
Draco heard her appear again with a loud "pop!" He left the kitchen, where he had been (unsuccessfully) trying to figure out instant ramen.
"God, I feel like a housewife. It's so boring here alone!" He said, trying to make a very uneasy-looking Hermione smile.
She did. "Harry's coming later. He's actually speaking to me. I'm taking that as a good sign." She sat down heavily on the couch, her smile disappearing quickly in her memories. "It was all so horrible…seeing them lying there like that…I don't ever want to go to another funeral in my life."
She was upset, but she couldn't cry anymore. She felt numb, having cried all the tears she had in her. She was happy that she had the distraction of Harry's visit to look forward to. Well, actually, she was dreading it, since it would probably involve yelling…but it was better than thinking about her dead friends.
Draco sighed, sitting next to her and looking frustrated. "Great. Potter. Are you sure I can't just, like, buy you a new friend so we can ignore him?"
Hermione didn't appreciate the joke, and elbowed him in the ribs. "If Harry's upset, it's because he thinks I'm hurting Ron. But he's my friend too. He's going to have to get over this."
"No dice. It's not just about Freckles; he hates me. He hates that I'm doing you. He hates that you would let me. The end."
She groaned at Draco's blunt assessment. She didn't think she could cope with both of them in the room together at the same time. Maybe she could make Draco leave for awhile? But that wouldn't work; Ginny wanted the two to call a truce…right, that'd be the day.
***
A couple hours later two loud "pops" could be heard from the kitchen, and Hermione felt her nerves go out the window. She shouldn't be so scared to talk to a good friend, should she? Harry was acting childish…but then why did she still feel like the bad guy in all this?
"In here!" Hermione called, taking a step towards the kitchen. Draco stayed seated, frowning.
Ginny flew through the door, and sent a nod to Hermione.
"Ginny! I…uh, I thought you'd be at home…"
She shook her head sadly, and met Hermione's eyes with a small smile. "I think you need me here to mediate some things."
"Er…like what?"
Ginny walked right up to Draco just as Harry entered the room, looking more than a little grumpy. She held out her hand expectantly. Draco looked at it, then back up to her face. He looked disgusted.
"What the hell do you expect me to do?"
She rolled her eyes. "Your wand, of course."
"Like hell!"
She glared, and pulled Harry's wand from her back pocket. "Harry had to give up his; now give it."
Hermione stood beside Ginny. "Draco, just give up the wand for now. I promise I'll make sure you get it back."
He was looking like he had just swallowed a bug, but he handed over his wand anyways. He looked up at Hermione with a bite of anger in his eyes.
She felt hurt at that, but didn't say anything. Making someone part with their wand wasn't a particularly kind act; he was entitled to be pissed. Harry was also glaring at Ginny.
"See?" She said, turning to Hermione. "Let's direct their anger at us as much as possible- maybe they'll wear themselves out." She winked and headed for the kitchen, the boy's wands held high in the air. "Come on, they can't kill each other now. At least, not easily, they can't." Hermione looked at her, disbelieving, and slowly followed. She avoided the stares of both of the boys.
