Really really sorry for the late update! xxx
It has been a week now. Of avoiding each other. Well, Malfoy was, for some reason, always trying to get her alone and talk to her. Hermione, however, was trying her very best to avoid breathing in the same place as Malfoy, much less even to talk to him.
Then, a few days after she had overheard Malfoy, she officially ended the pact they had made. It was when Hermione caught Malfoy pulling a giggling Lavender into a classroom.
"Draco, what are you doing?" Came Lavender's high pitched tittering when the door slammed shut behind her.
Hermione had stormed forward, swung the door open with a crash, marched in before registering what she was doing, and pulled her wand out before anyone could react.
"Flipendo!" Hermione screamed. There was a loud bang and Draco Malfoy was knocked into the teacher's desk with a loud crack.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Malfoy yelled.
He tried to heave himself back up on his feet but was not able to. Hermione guessed the impact probably damaged some part of his spine. She had meant it to be a small knock-back jinx, but apparently, the full force of the spell was unleashed. She breathed heavily as she stared at Lavender, who had slammed her lids shut when Hermione had screamed the curse and stood there paralyzed.
"We are officially," Hermione strode outside, "over."
"No Hermione!" Malfoy was still struggling to stand, "You don't understand…" It was the first time he had called her by her first name, Hermione could not help but realize.
"What." Hermione swung around, her eyes boring holes into Malfoy's, "Do I not understand? In fact, I think I understand the situation more than you do." A loud laugh broke out from her lips. "I get it Draco" —she stretched his name out in an exaggerated manner — "I'm muggle-born. A mudblood. You're degrading yourself to be together with me. What a huge sacrifice! To be with an ugly girl with filthy blood. Have you ever —" Hermione's chest heaved uncontrollably as she stared at the figure sprawled on the floor.
Have you ever loved me?
Malfoy had fell silent when she was yelling and now looked down at the floor.
"You heard …" he whispered. Hermione took in the silky blonde hair that she had once ruffled, the silver eyes that had twinkled when he made her laugh, and the pale lips that had once pressed softly against hers.
She turned slowly and strode down the empty hall. She needed quiet. Peace and quiet.
"—but now that big Hufflepuff player's got the Quaffle from her, I can't remember his name, it's something like Bibble – no, Buggins —" Luna's monotonous voice emanated from the microphone she was holding to her mouth.
"It's Cadwallader!" said Professor McGonagall loudly from beside Luna.
It was the start of the quidditch season that year and almost all students filed out of the castle and into the stands to watch the game. After she had ended whatever she had with Malfoy, Hermione hung around Ginny and Harry for the most part, and since both were going to the match she thought she might as well tag along. After the affair with Lavender Brown had been discovered, Ron had publicly started to go out with the former, and the Golden Trio seemed more broken than ever.
"Yes, professor. And now it's up to that Ronald Weasley to block... he seems so wobbly today and is he clutching his head in the middle of the game?... I doubt he even knows how to sit properly on his broom. Oh, I hope he gets hit by the Quaffle after what he's done to poor Hermione …"
Sitting in the stands, Hermione buried her face in her palms and hoped Luna would just shut up already. Beside her, Harry patted her shoulders reassuringly.
Then, all round her, Hermione heard a collective gasp. Moments later, Luna's voice could be heard.
"Oh gosh," she said in an unexcitable voice, "I hadn't expected that. I guess someone should get him to Madam Pomfrey…" Hermione's head shot up from her palms and she peered over the hundreds of heads before her. Ron had indeed been hit by a Quaffle when he was reaching out to catch it. Apparently, he was hit hard as well, for Hermione could see a huge bump swelling on the side of his head where the ball had hit. Ron wobbled precariously on his broom before plummeting down to earth.
If it had been in any other situation, Hermione would have ran up to the hospital wing to tease Ron. It was such a comical and silly mistake to have made — she and Harry would have had a good laugh about it. But things were different now and Hermione turned her gaze away resolutely.
The quidditch match could not go on without Gryffindor's prized Keeper around, and thus, the whole grumbling student body got up and began to slowly meander back into the castle. Hermione headed up to her dorms and started on her homework. Malfoy was also in the hospital wing due to her jinx and she could finally get some quiet in the large common room she shared with him.
"Is he," Hermione asked grudgingly the fifth day after Ron had been hit by the Quaffle, "Still not out from the hospital wing yet?" Malfoy had been out of the Hospital Wing for three days already and he had had a much worse injury than did Ron.
Harry shook his head. "Dunno what's taking so long. But it'll be fine; we have Madam Pomfrey."
Although they were no longer in a relationship, Ron still had been her friend for a full seven years at Hogwarts. And despite her trying to repress the feelings of worry she had for him, Hermione's efforts were to no avail.
After dinner, she decided to check on him. In secret. Just to see if he was okay.
Madam Pomfrey eyed her as Hermione came tiptoeing in.
"When will Ron be okay to leave?" Hermione whispered.
"He's actually not doing quite well. The swelling has stopped but he keeps complaining about his head hurting." The lines between Madam Pomfrey's brows deepened as her voice trailed off.
"But," she snapped at Hermione," Rules are rules and you only 5 minutes here. My patients need rest." With that, the school nurse swept into her office and shut the door with a dull thud.
Hermione straightened up and looked at the rows of neatly lined beds of the Hospital Wing. Every bed was empty except for some at the back and Hermione could distinguish the bright mop of red hair even from the distance. She took a few steps closer and squinted at the area where the Quaffle had hit his head. The swelling had indeed disappeared and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. Ron's headache was probably just an after effect of the injury. She was just about to turn and leave when she caught a glimpse of long blonde hair bobbing beside Ron's bed.
Lavender Brown.
Hermione hadn't even registered her presence because Lavender had been huddling around Ron on the other side of the bed. A small tinkling came from her direction and Hermione took a few steps closer, peering out from the curtains of a nearby cot.
Lavender's eyes were darting from Ron to Madam Pomfrey's office as her hands worked furiously, pouring a silver liquid from a small vial into Ron's water glass and taking out a small silver spoon to mix thoroughly. Even from where Hermione was standing she could tell what Lavender had just poured into Ron's glass.
"A distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen…and steam rising from it in characteristic spirals…" Hermione breathed. Amortentia.
