AN: Hello readers. I have to say some things first:
Thank you so much for all the reviews, and the past reviews on encouraging me to finish the story. I was really happy and grateful that you guys were understanding when I said I might need some time to finish the story.
Second, I come here to apologize. I feel ashamed that it took me this long to update, and for a time I was embarrassed to face my readers again, because I took so long. There were times when I decided to not finish the story, to just call it quits because I believed it was too late, and I couldn't face you guys anymore.
I just want to say I'm sorry, and I sincerely understand if you think I don't deserve any more reviews.
So, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I finally have an ending. :)
The next morning, as Draco made his way to his seat, there was an unusual hussle and bussle around the classroom
Everyone seemed to be unusually excited that morning, there was this aura of restlessness and excited murmurs.
"So why did he ask you that way?"
"No kidding! It's a good thing you're not going with him!"
"I haven't got a suit yet, or those nice tux…"
"This whole dance is useless, that's what!"
It hit Draco. It was already Thursday, only two days left before the dance. Everyone was talking about it. Everyone was talking about who was taking who, who was dancing with who, who's wearing what, who gave what to who… etcetera, etcetera. Everywhere he looked, people were busy conversing and exchanging gasps, shocked faces, smiles and smug faces.
Draco thought about it. Technically, he had no date. He hadn't asked Pansy yet, although it seemed like there would be no need for asking…
Pansy Parkinson entered the room, bobbing up and down and looking happy, she kissed Draco on the cheek and said 'Thank You' for the flowers. Then she bounced off to her place, bragging to Blaise and anyone who would listen about her oh-so-fabulous flowers and silver love notes.
He decided to open up his book and do some reading, since he had no one to talk to about the dance, nor did he really care. He was getting used to the feeling of having no seatmate; it's been how many days since he last saw his.
"And I'm sure I haven't missed that much anyway…" A voice trailed from afar. Draco, immersed in his book, didn't look up to see who it was. He flipped the pages, his eyes followed the words, the sentences…
"Ouch! It hurts, Ron! I told you!" The voice said once more, only this time, much louder, clearer, and nearer. Draco suddenly stopped reading, though he did not move and look up to see who it was.
Could it be?
He flipped the pages, not daring to look up, but just listening closely. He continued to pretend to read until he was sure he heard her voice right. He could feel something race inside him. There was a thrill.
"I didn't mean it, It just looks so tempting to poke!" Ron said to whoever it was.
He could feel the person inch closer; she or he was getting nearer and nearer. Finally a shadow hovered somewhere near him, though he did not want to look up for he was currently, 'reading.' He was holding his breath.
"Well don't, Ronald, it really hurts." She said, and sat herself down.
Draco's eyeballs went large. So, she's back.
No one has ever sat down in Hermione's place since the day she left, and now that this somebody sat down, he was pretty sure it was her. The voice gave it away too. He hadn't heard that irritating voice in a while.
He smirked. "So, you're finally back." He said expressionless, still reading the book.
She huffed. "Yeah, well, here I am. I'm glad to know you were lonely enough to start reading books."
Draco could feel her smirk. He gave the book one last glance before deciding to look at her. "Yeah, well…" He said, flipping the pages, page 45. I stopped at page 45.
"Don't flatter yourself too much, Gra--". He swiveled and looked at her.
Bam. Silence. He stopped in mid-word, never finishing the last name of the girl in front of him.
Who was this girl in front of him?
He seemed to have forgotten what he was saying, or who he was talking to. The girl in front of him was the Hermione Granger he always knew, alright. She had the same chocolate eyes, the same nose, the same lips… But her hair seemed to be smoother, less of the frizz and bushiness he once knew. And, well, so this is what Ron said was so tempting to poke.
She had gotten a tan.
Draco struggled for words. She was looking at him, waiting for him to finish what he was saying.
"What?" She asked incredulously, wondering what he was staring at. "What's wrong with you?" She said. She waved her hands in front of his face.
"Hey hey hey!" He finally said, recovering from the awkward and utterly stupid silence he had given her. "Don't do that, Granger. It's so annoying." He said, pushing her waving hand away, his eyebrows burrowed in annoyance.
Her hands were smooth too. Soft, smooth, it was the first time he remembered touching it… So this was the feeling of a bookworm's hands.
"Fine. I wasn't the one who suddenly spaced out anyway." She said to him, gave him a final smirk and faced the blackboard for Professor McGonagall suddenly entered the classroom.
Draco looked at her one last time. Side by side, he never knew he actually missed his unfortunate seatmate.
"I thought you only flick your wand twice?!" She said exasperated, in the middle of their Transfiguration class.
"Listen, as your seatmate, I understand that I have to pretend I care how you do in class, but please! I got this wrong too, okay?! Three times, three! Happy?!" Draco said, exasperated too. They were practicing the lesson they took up yesterday, the one that Draco wasn't listening to since he was sending Pansy silver love notes and thinking of when to give the flowers and the mounds of chocolate in his room.
"Okay. Fine. Sorry. Thanks I guess." Hermione simply said, shrugged and went back to her work.
Draco looked at her once again, and then some seats back to the Slytherin Princess he gave flowers to the day before. She was having Blaise do the work for her while she brushed her hair. He looked at his seatmate, and she rolled up her sleeves and got ready to get dirty.
He smiled inwardly. He appreciated the intense contrast his seatmate possessed towards other girls Draco got used to.
The day wore on, and more catching up on lessons happened. Occasionally Hermione would catch Draco staring, and he'd brush it off as spacing out, or he saw something on her hair.
There were moments too, when, this time it was Hermione whom Draco caught was staring at him, after giving her a smirk, she'd say she was simply spacing out too, or thought, she saw horns growing out of his head.
Last subject of the day was Potions, and by the time Professor Snape entered the room everyone was tired from the day's work, but thoroughly excited about ending the day and going off to dinner.
"Get brewing and make it right, the faster you perfect it the faster I get to free myself of your faces." Professor Snape snapped at them, obviously in a very bad mood.
"Malfoy!" He barked. Draco jerked up and straightened up hastily. "Yes, Professor?"
"You teach Ms. Granger how to make that potion we learned yesterday, and get it right, or else I'm failing both of you. You got that?" He snapped, eyeing Draco then Hermione and back to Draco again.
"Yes, Sir." Draco said quietly, he turned around and faced Hermione.
"Look." He whispered. "Let's do this quick and smoothly, 'kay? He's in a bad mood and trust me, just showing him you're happy can be a cause for detention."
Hermione faced him. "Yes, okay, I got it." She whispered back. Draco didn't reply after that because there was nothing else to say, and partly because they were so close when they were whispering that he could still feel Hermione's breath touch his skin.
"Okay. So what's the first step?" She asked him without taking her eyes off the book.
Draco consulted his notes. "So…" He said, reading off the pages. "Dragon skin, and then pixie powder. Stir gently."
Hermione was reading off the pages. "Mhmmmm." She mumbled. Draco looked at her.
She seemed so attractive with her hands on her hips and her face in deep concentration…
"Draco!" She snapped.
"What?!" Draco said defensively.
"I said, why Dragon skin then pixie powder? It says in the book, pixie powder goes first, and we have to slice the dragon skin into thin and equal pieces." She said, and faced him with her hands crossed.
Draco spread his arms to his side and shrugged, "Hey, if you don't trust me, then fine. I'm the one with the notes here and you're the one who's been missing."
Hermione eyed him, her eyes turning into slits. "Fine. Let's stick with your notes." She said grudgingly.
"Thank you." Draco smirked.
He handed the dragon skin to Hermione, and when Hermione reached out to get the skin, Professor Snape poked her hand painfully with his wand.
"What-" He said viciously. "-is this?" He asked her impatiently. "You do know that dragon skin comes after the pixie powder? And in any case, you do have to cut up the dragon skin too?" He spat.
Hermione cringed. "I'm sorry Professor, must've made a mistake." She said.
Snape smirked. "Yes, well, who knew the Gryffindor Bookworm made such obvious mistakes." His lips curled. He looked at Draco. "You're lucky to have Mr. Malfoy point out your mistakes and help you fix up your clearly confused thoughts." He gave her one last smirk, turned his bat-like turn and walked away.
Hermione faked a smile as he left, and when the coast was clear, she quickly turned and faced Malfoy, a look ready to kill plastered on her face.
Draco gulped. "Well, I guess I thought wrong?" He said as cutely as he can, raising his eyebrows and biting his lip.
"Stop playing around and get to work." Hermione barked, trying to forget the look he gave her.
"Okay look, to make it up to you, I'll slice the dragon skin if you want…" He offered, opening his hand so she could give him the dragon skin.
Hermione gave a weak smile. "Thanks." She said awkwardly, and gave him the skin.
Okay… things are going out well… Hermione thought. Keep level at cool with him…
As Hermione poured the pixie powder, she saw Draco cutting the dragon skin entirely wrong. Dragon skin wasn't normally sliced, it was cubed.
"What are you doing?" She asked incredulously.
"Hmmm?" Draco looked up, not letting go of the skin. "I'm cutting it up, slicing it just as Professor said." He told her truthfully.
Hermione put her hands in her waist and approached him. "Dragon skin isn't normally sliced, Mr. Dumbwit, in case you haven't been reading our textbooks, the skin of the dragon always has to be cubed!" She tried to get the remaining dragon skin from the boy.
"Hey! You're-not--" Draco struggled.
"Give--" Hermione flinched. "—Me it!" She lunged at him.
"GET-OFF-ME WOMAN!!" Draco bellowed.
Suddenly there was silence. They felt all eyes fall upon them, and a nasty feeling of embarrassment spread across their skin. They stared at each other's eyes, piercing, fierce, angry.
"What is the meaning of this?" Professor Snape said in his soft, dangerous voice. His eyes scanning the two teenagers.
Hermione's eyes went down. "Sorry, Professor." She simply said. Draco's eyes grew big. Say sorry?!
"Professor, I told her to—" He started, but Hermione stepped on his foot. "Shut up." She said viciously at the corner of her mouth.
Snape's lips curled into a smirk. His eyes bounced between the two. "It seems as though two people are going to miss dinner tonight…" He trailed.
Draco moaned. "What? No way!" He said out loud.
"And what's this? A retort? Both of you will be cleaning the abandoned classroom in the dungeons tonight. I heard even the elves are scared to go in and clean it." He gave a sinister laugh. "Enjoy your detention." He finished, and with a swoosh of his cloak, he was soon heading towards Neville.
Hermione's eyes grew the size of slits. Draco gave a little gulp. He hated over dramatic females.
"Thanks a lot Draco Malfoy." She started. "The first night I come back and I spend dinner time having detention with you."
They didn't speak to each other from that moment 'till they opened the classroom door to their detention destination.
They looked around the long forgotten classroom. Draco smirked. "You know, it was legend that the Old Slytherins used to make this room their Meeting Place."
Hermione didn't reply. She walked on, picked up a note that stuck on a dusty chair. 'No Magic Allowed.' She huffed.
"So you're really not talking to me?" Draco said. He walked towards her. "Fine." He scoffed. He turned away, and started working on the tables and chairs, wiping them with a rag and coughing along the way.
Hermione wandered towards the other side of the room, cleaning the windows and the walls. She had her back towards Draco.
There was this cold and heavy tension in the air, the silence was deafening, and the only ice breaker they had was the sound of scratching chairs and tables.
Draco looked around the room. Dirty ceiling, dusty floors, rickety tables and chairs, his eyes scanned the room, spider webs in corners and nooks, dead insects, forgotten books, his eyes looked some more, blackened windows, beautiful female body, broken light bulbs…
Time out. His eyes went back a bit.
Beautiful female body?! He stared. And there she was, a favorable subject of Draco's attention, a delightful contrast to the dirt and dust that surrounded them. She wore simple Muggle clothing, a pair of jeans that fit her perfectly, they showed off in a modest manner her shapely legs, and a simple rose colored t-shirt that followed her womanly curves.
Draco finally noticed that the little Mudblood now grew up into a fine, beautiful lady.
She continued to wipe vigorously at the windows, and soon she tied her hair into a simple but sexy ponytail. Her hair bounced this way and that, Draco's pupils following every move, she moved her body this way and that, bent over, stretched, swayed, and Draco caught every single action.
He was half gaping, and as he was about to return to his cleaning, Hermione suddenly turned and caught him looking at her stupidly.
She smirked. Draco's cheeks went from pale to red. Her face was even more amazing then her body. And her tan was perfect. He gulped. Oh No..
"Were you just staring?" She asked, challenging him. Draco scoffed. "I thought we weren't talking to each other?"
She walked towards another window. "We were, until I found out you were ogling me."
Draco went red. "I wasn't ogling you!" He said. "I was just checking how you clean the windows, I mean, I'm not exactly used to Muggle crap, am I?" He said.
She just turned around. Damn. Draco thought. Close call. He looked at her one last time, and his eyes went into slits. What's she pulling out?
Suddenly she took out a white coiled thing, and she put the two ends on her ear. Draco was curious. And soon she brought out from her pocket a hand sized device, her fingers circled somewhere in the bottom, and soon it lit up. She smiled, nodded, and put it back in her pocket.
What in Merlin's name is she doing…? Draco wondered. "Well then, at least I don't need to talk to you."
Silence once again. Draco was restless. He banged a lot of things, hitting chairs and acting clumsy. It's as if he was suddenly anxious, nervous, or whatever you call it. It's been how many minutes of still silence. Draco had only himself to talk to, and the figure a few feet away from him, making him uneasy.
Suddenly, an ear-splitting scream made Draco jump. "Whaaat?!" Draco suddenly said, breathing heavy, his heart racing. "What happened?!" He asked Hermione.
She was bent over, her arms stuck between two chairs who were…laughing?
Draco stared. "What the hell are those?!" He winced.
Hermione looked at him. "They're obviously bewitched! Some Old Slytherin Prat must've thought it would make a good joke. Now I'm stuck, I can't get out." She huffed.
Draco thought a moment. Is she asking me for help? Or, is she implying she needs help, and see if I would help her?
"That's what wands are for, Granger." He said.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "We can't use magic, Draco! Now get your butt here and help me!!" She said helplessly at him.
Guess that answers it then! He laughed to himself.
He approached Hermione, who seemed so helpless, her right hand stuck in some prank hole inside a chair. "You take so slow, now come on, help me out!" She said.
Draco smirked. He reached out for her right arm. Hermione inhaled his macho scent. She tried to focus on the nasty chair as Draco tugged at her arm.
They were inches near right now, so close Hermione could feel his breath on the side of her cheek, and the feel of his strong hands pull on her delicate arms sent a tingle up her spine.
"When I say go, we pull together, okay?" He told her. He looked at her, searching for her approval, and Hermione was taken aback by the softness of his voice, and the sudden pierce of his gray eyes. "Okay." She said faintly.
"Okay." He said. He firmed up his grip on Hermione's right arm. Hermione sniffed some more of his manly scent. "Ready…. Set…" He inched closer. "Go!" They both winced and pulled as hard as they could. At the corner of Hermione's eyes she saw Draco's guns and manly muscles; and she thought she could pass out.
"It's not--" Hermione winced. She was turning red. "Ouch! It hurts!!" She winced once more. She was breathing heavily. Draco stopped and looked at her. "It hurts?" He asked.
Is he… concerned..? She controlled her sob that was about to break loose. "Yeah." She answered. Draco stroked his jaws and lapsed into deep thought.
"Okay. Let's try something." He said. He made his way towards Hermione's waist, he went behind and wrapped his arms around her.
Both of them went red.
"Wow. This is pretty awkward." Hermione said, trying to break the ice.
Draco gave a small laugh. "You think? Good thing no one's about to barge in on us." He said.
He steadied his suddenly trembling hands on Hermione's waist, butterflies started to fly frantically inside the pit of his stomach. He could feel Hermione's every female curve, and he felt awkward being so close to her, and feeling her curves.
"On my count… ready.." Draco started. Hermione shivered at the feel of his breath on her neck. "GO!"
They pulled together. Hermione tugged on her arm, while Draco tried adding more manpower by pulling her from the waist. He moved his hands lower... to her hips, he searched for the hipbone and that's what he pulled on, so it would be less painful for Hermione.
"It's--not--" Hermione huffed. "--working!" Hermione suddenly put her right leg against the chair, and used this to put an additional push.
"Great--idea--" Draco panted. He then put his right leg against the chair also, and his leg was now right beside Hermione's, so close that Hermione felt like it was skin-on-skin, if it weren't for the blasted jeans.
Draco moved closer so he could push the chair properly and tug on her hips at the same time, his upper front of his body touching against Hermione's back.
Hermione could feel his firm chest touch her back, and she gave a slight shudder.
"--Stupid--chair- --Come-- on." Draco was saying. They added the effort. He was practically wrapped around Hermione, and they were so close together, jean to jean, shirt to shirt, no tension in between.
"It--won't--bulge--!" Hermione said frustrated. She added her efforts, and naturally so did Draco. They pulled and pushed, the chair still not giving in, and as they tried some more, Draco thought he saw the chair wink and give a nasty giggle.
Oh No…
And soon enough the chair suddenly broke its grip on Hermione, and the sudden release while Hermione and Draco pulled and pushed brought them both flying across the room, and they landed with a nasty thud on the floor.
"Oooooomff." Hermione said, as she landed head first on top of-- Draco?
Apparently the Slytherin Prince was already on the floor, doubling with pain, and he gave a soft howl as Hermione landed, adding extra weight on him.
"Ouuuuuchhh! Damn it, Granger!!" He said as he closed his eyes in pain. Surprisingly, Hermione didn't get off at once. They were now on top of each other, and she never got even this close to him. She found herself staring.
Draco opened his eyes. Bright silver orbs seemed to greet Hermione's staring ones. "So, I'm not the one staring now, am I?" He said. "Get off me, Granger." He smirked at her. "Unless you don't want to, which I totally understand." He added.
Hermione went a deep shade of red. She hastily got off him. "You're sick." She scoffed.
Draco gave a laugh. He sat himself up from the floor, looked around and suddenly said, "Hey…" He reached over. "What's this?" He picked up the small thing Hermione was using a while ago, it was black and he saw a white circle thing in the bottom. He shook it and brought it to his ear.
Hermione reached over and grabbed it from him. "This--" She pointed. "—Is my iPod. It's a Muggle thing. Of course you wouldn't know of it." She said.
"Well what does it do?" Draco asked curiously.
"It's none of your business!" Hermione suddenly snapped.
Draco was taken aback. "Wow." He said. "Well I'm sorry to have upset you by asking what I thought would be a harmless question..!" Draco said defensively. "Geez! What's wrong with you?" He asked her incredulously.
Hermione looked icily at him. Then she gave a deep sigh. "Look--" She started, closing her eyes. "--I'm sorry, okay?" She told him. "It's just… this is the first night I'm back from my Muggle home, and I was hoping to spend it catching up with Harry, Ron and Ginny, and all my other Gryffindor friends, you know...? Find out about things I've missed… things about school, people… the ball…" She trailed, her shoulders drooping.
Draco felt a certain pity for her, and guilt on his part. "Well, look, I'm sorry I wasn't your ideal person to spend a Thursday Night with. I get it." He said, waving his hands and shrugging.
Hermione gave a lopsided smile. "You think?" She said. "You're the friggin' Slytherin Prince. Draco Malfoy. Who would've thought." She finished.
"And you're welcome." He said. Silence suddenly followed. They were both spacing out.
"Well, do you have a date for the ball?" Draco suddenly asked.
Hermione looked up, surprised. Even Draco was surprised himself. Did he just really say that out loud?
"No." Hermione said. "I was hoping to spend tonight looking for one." She said. "Another reason to be proud of, Malfoy. You cause me misery." She said grudgingly.
"Glad I could help." Draco said. Another round of silence followed. Here they were, two rivals, total strangers to each other. What did they know of?
No time for pretenses, nobody's watching.
"Well…" Draco suddenly said, as he stood up. Hermione looked up at him. He then gave her his hand.
Hermione stared at it. "What do you want me to do with that?" She asked curiously.
Draco smirked. "If there's one thing you missed, it's Dumbledore and McGonagall's dance lessons." He said.
Hermione gaped. "You're… going to teach me?!" She asked incredulously.
Draco shrugged. "I got you into this detention, I'll help you make the most of it. Besides, no one's watching." He said.
Hermione gave a weak smile. She then took the hand of Draco and stood up. His hand felt smooth and cold, like this was the first time she ever felt his hand. It's been a while.
"Okay, so what now?" She asked him, nervous and anxious on whatever was about to happen.
Draco looked around, and looked at her. "Okay… first thing, we have to be closer…" He trailed in his husky, cool voice. And as he said this, he took his right hand and placed it behind Hermione's back, ("Okay.." Hermione said nervously.) moving her towards him, closer to him.
Draco looked at Hermione. His silver eyes pierced those brown, nervous ones. He was glad nobody was watching, he himself was surprised at what he was doing. He never would admit it, but he found a certain comfort in the close proximity he had with Hermione.
"Alright." He said gently. He could feel her anxiety. "Keep cool, Granger. That's the key." He whispered in her ear. A chill crawled about Hermione's skin.
Draco then positioned Hermione's left hand at the back of his neck, he put his right hand on her waist. "Okay, now give me your right hand." Draco said, as he extended his left.
Hermione obediently obliged. They joined hands, held at a certain distance from their bodies, upright and cautious. No one knows who's giving in, holding back, or falling.
"Wait." Hermione suddenly said.
"What?" Draco asked surprised.
"We don't have music." She answered. She took out her so called 'iPod', placed it on the floor, and let it play. "I bewitched it a long time ago to sound amplified when needed." She said guiltily, and resumed position with Draco.
He gave a small smile, and she found it infectious. "Okay." He said gently. "Let's begin."
And as soon as the first note was played, they started to move gently. Hermione followed Draco's lead, not believing she trusted him, and Draco… he moved swiftly, gently, carefully, as though to prove this time, he had no intention of messing up.
If there was any truth in leaving the past behind and living for the moment as it presented itself right now, this was the perfect time.
Here she was, Hermione, waiting for the time when Draco would come back again, miraculously or by destiny, she hoped the time would come. Old habits die hard, and who could forget a love so quickly? But her so called Prince took so long, she started to wonder whether she was waiting in vain, whether she should do the first move, or do the first move in moving on.
And here, the Slytherin Prince. His life was perfectly normal, but ever since the start of seventh year he felt as though something was missing. Perhaps, something he wasn't better off without? And soon everything starts to change. Suddenly he's seatmates with his Mudblood rival, he spends mysteriously more class hours around her, and he reads some little brown notebook with something about her in it. It's surprising, all this, but what's all the more surprising is how it's been making Draco feel.
Life would be better if we listened to the signs, things that point us to where we know and feel we should be.
He gently spun Hermione at the tip of his fingers, caressing her back and taking in the scent of her hair.
She could feel Draco's intense gaze upon her, and suddenly it did not make her feel uneasy. She gazed back at his silver eyes, putting her hands around his neck, trusting in him as he carefully and marvelously gave her a little dip.
Her back arched, she let herself bend gracefully, and he followed her body language in fluid motion, as though they complemented each other.
Draco looked at the girl in front of him, the face that looked back at him with total trust. He smiled. And she smiled. At their level of closeness they could have kissed right now, but they weren't. What was stopping them?
And then, as fluid as their movement moments ago, as smooth and liquid as their body language in the solitude, Draco seemed to have gravitated towards the beauty that was in front of him, and his movement, as swift and as gentle as could be,
He kissed her.
There was no room for thoughts or rational thinking… only action, only acts fueled on impulse, on feeling, on possible love?
Not surprisingly her lips were soft, innocent and smooth, as how Draco suspected. Someone as gentle and as beautiful as her could not have lips that felt tired and weakened from all useless gossip and blabber. Hers was precious, like it chose its words carefully, and who it kissed.
But surprisingly, Draco felt arms wrap around his neck, and he deepened the kiss as he pulled her back up, snaking his hands around her waist, and pulling her closer to him.
She obeyed, no objection or uncertainty, and her body moved closer to his, so that they were inseparable.
With all pretenses gone, all tension gone, and all past fumes forgotten, when the Slytherin Prince and the Noble Gryffindor kiss like long lost lovers while nobody watches,
Who falls first?
Suddenly, the door burst open and an ear-splitting scream greeted them.
"HEEER--MY--OWN--KNEEEEE!!" Harry, Ron and Ginny immediately rushed in.
Draco hurriedly shoved Hermione aside and she landed with a nasty thud against a chair.
"Owww!" Hermione screeched. She massaged her hip. "What did you do that for?!" She asked Draco lividly.
Draco suddenly felt a rush of embarrassment for what he'd done, but he couldn't back down now, not in front of Gryffindors who just caught them kissing.
"Well, that's for kissing me." Draco said, smirking at her.
Harry looked at Hermione. "'Mione, Is this t--"
"Kissing you?!" Hermione cut Harry off. She was breathing heavily. "You're the one who kissed me!!" She practically screeched.
"A great liar too! Really, why do you think I won't go to the ball with you?" Draco scoffed.
Hermione's jaw dropped. "Hermione!" Ron said. "You asked Draco to the ball?! I thought only boys were supposed t--"
"Oh, shut it Ron!" Hermione said furiously. "I did not ask this Syltherin Prat to the ball." She spat angrily. "I had no intention to!" Hermione said.
Draco smirked, either to piss her off more or to hide the part of hurt he felt. "Great. 'Cause who would want to go with you?! And I never had any second thoughts either, bringing you didn't even occur to me. Did you think there was a possibility for me to actually like you!?" He said viciously.
Hermione was taken aback. His words stung. "You're a pig, Malfoy." She said quietly, as tears started to run down. She turned away and ran out of the classroom, as Ron and Ginny followed hurriedly after her.
Draco was speechless. He never intended to get this hurtful on Hermione. His past insults never brought her close to tears, except if it was a really touchy subject like her parents or her bloodline.
He stared, dumbfounded, wondering what he'd just done or what curse or blessing just ran away from him.
Movement snapped him back from reality, and the sound of footsteps belonged to Harry. Draco looked at him icily, looking cold and emotionless, as always.
"You stay away from her." Harry said viciously, pointing a very angry finger at Draco's chest. "I swear. You stay away from her, in the ball, in school, just stay the hell away from her! You got that?" He gave Draco a hard look. "Don't even talk to her, go near her or look at her!"
Draco didn't say anything.
Harry gave him one last disgusted look, then turned around, his back to Draco, and retreated out the now lonely classroom.
Draco stayed rooted to the spot for a few moments, not thinking nor reacting. Everything happened so fast, he couldn't believe he caused most of the chaos. A second ago he was kissing what seemed to be the most beautiful girl he got close to in a long time, and seconds later she looks a mess in tears with angry friends going after him.
He looked around, taking in the empty classroom, hardly believing it could ever be cleaned, forgotten as ugly.
I guess I'm going with Pansy then.
He saw Hermione's iPod lying forgotten on the floor, and picked it up, wondering whether it was going to be such a great idea. As he bent down to reach for the little black thing, something sparkly caught his eye.
Draco's eyebrows burrowed. He squinted, trying to make out what it was. It seemed to be hidden by a couple of chairs in the side of the classroom; its light seemed to be overshadowed by the chair's wood.
He crawled his way towards the multitude of chairs and tried to reach for the little shiny thing. He failed a couple of times, but finally his fingertips felt something cold and smooth, he enclosed his fingers around it and retrieved it from the dark.
He was kneeling when he opened his palms, and as it opened he saw that it seemed to be a shiny silver locket.
"This looks familiar…" Draco trailed. He studied it. He made a theory that it was hidden there long ago, forgotten by its old owner, never found again. Old Slytherins.
He opened it, and the bright light blinded him for a second. Finally, he was able to see clearly and read carefully what was inscribed on the precious metal inside.
Suddenly something told him that locket wasn't old and long forgotten by some legendary Slytherins.
"DM HG?" He said to himself.