I screamed
and giggled as I almost spilled my milk.
"Are you
all right, Hermione?" Harry asked me.
"Yeah. .
. this is the first time I think I have ever heard you giggle," Ron said,
beginning to do a spirited impression of me giggling and blushing.
"Shut up!"
I squealed, flicking a piece of dried toast into his eye. Fred and George
chortled across the table.
"Now, now.
. . settle down, Hermione," Percy said calmly. I glanced over at Draco.
He was sitting, staring at his porridge as if trying to see if he could
eat with his eyes.
"Y'know,
I think I got to go," I said, finally getting up.
"Hermione.
. . we have at least five months till exams start. No need to start studying
now," Ron said, sloshing his spoon through his soggy cereal.
"Oh, shut
up, Ron!!" I laughed and began to walk towards the door.
"D'you need
help studying or something?" Ron called after me, forgetting that he had
to make fun of me. His soft, large, brown eyes stared at me. I felt like
they were looking straight through my soul, so that he could really see
me. . .
"Ugh," what
words were I looking for? His eyes irked me.
"Hermione.
. . er, are you in there?" Harry stared.
"Yeah, yeah.
No, I'll be fine by myself, thanks, Ron," I said, walking out.
***
I pushed
my plate away and got up from the table.
"Where are
you going, Draco?" Pansy asked, a strand of hair entwined in her long,
bony fingers.
"Somewhere,"
I walked away from the table so that she wouldn't have a chance to ask
me any pestering questions.
***
I reclined
in one of the squashy, soft, red, velvety arm-chairs and heaved a long
sigh. My fingers went to brush a strand of hair out of my eyes, but then
I saw him walking through the door, his flaxen hair shining in the white,
sparkling, winter sunlight. I held my breath as he looked around. I wanted
him to come over, but in the same time I wanted to run. . . I wanted to.
. .
"Ohmigod,
he's walking over here!" I gasped. Wait a minute. . . did I just say, 'ohmigod'?
I was acting like Lavender or Parvati. . . I took a deep breath and tried
to regain control of myself.
"Granger,"
he addressed me, and sat down in a seat beside me. I finally drew a breath.
He called me Granger. Tears jumped to my eyes, but I quickly muted the
sobs that were rising in my chest. Why did he call me Granger? Argh!
Why was I so stupid last night and
this morning? I was acting so strange. . . I was acting like an average,
mediocre schoolgirl. Ugh. . . mediocre disgusts me.
"Malfoy,"
I said coolly, gathering my shattered thoughts and scattered emotions.
"About last
night," he started, looking at his hands awkwardly. This gesture reminded
me of my own 'exquisite' hands writhing nervously in my lap.
"Yes, Malfoy,
about last night," I said, nodding. I tried to meet his gaze several times,
but I was afraid that he would look at me in the same penetrating way Ron
had.
***
"Yes, Malfoy,
about last night," she said, her head bobbing up and down obediently. She
said it with chilling formality. . . I knew what I was going to say. I
had it all planned out in my head.
"I didn't
know what I was-" I began.
"Yes. .
. I didn't know what I was thinking, either. I guess I just lost my head
there for a second. But now it's back on my shoulders, so I am thinking
quite clearly," she rambled. I watched her look down at her hands.
"I don't
even know why it happened," I muttered, "Me, kissing a mud-blood!" She
looked up, her eyes shining with tears, her mouth twisted into a wicked
smile.
"I just
did it because it was a dare. . . I wanted to see what a mudblood was like,"
I sneered, raising an eye brow at her.
"Me, kissing
a slimy snake like you, Malfoy. The thought disgusts me," she said and
got up. She began to walk away.
"I think
I'm going to chuck up my breakfast now. Ta ta!" she called, her hand
flitting in the air forming a careless
wave.
"Granger!"
I called out. She turned her head and met my eyes. She pouted her bottom
lip and batted her eye lashes. A hand was rested on her jutting hipbone
artfully. Mudbloods can be seductive when they want to be. . . stupid whore.
***
"Granger!"
he called out. I turned around, and pushed all my hurt and hate and pain
to the back of my mind. I put on my sexy school girl face and turned around.
"I really
must go study," I said, smiling demurely and walking out of the library.
I walked into the common room
and pulled my report for Charms. I began to proof read it, trying to get
my mind off of Malfoy. The noise level in the room began to rise as people
came in from breakfast. Fred and George made a grand entrance by running
into the room and throwing lighted Fillibuster Fireworks all over the place.
"No spelling
errors. . . no run on sentences," I muttered, desperately looking for something
to copy-over or fix. One of those silly, colorful fireworks went off beside
my table. I sighed deeply. I needed to stop thinking about blonde hair
and silver eyes and pale hands. Studying won't make this go away. . .
I remembered
last night. . . I had gone for a walk because I needed to think about him.
If I would go for a walk now, would I bump into him and fall asleep in
his arms?
"Hermione,
watch out!!" Fred yelled. I looked up from my book to see that my parchment
was on fire. . . George had set off a fire work right near my paper. .
.
***
I rested
my head in my hands and closed my eyes, trying to remember the way she
smelled last night. Trying to remember the way her hair fell over her eyes.
. . the eerie shadows the light casted over her pretty face.
My finger
nails dug sharply into my clenched fist. I looked down and saw bluish veins,
pumping, thin against my pale skin, running down my arm, like the lines
through marble.
The words
that I had said to her rang in my ears. . .
"Goddammit,
Malfoy!" I muttered, and buried my face in my hands.
***
"Er, Hermione?"
Ron asked that night in the common room, "You've been a little bit preoccupied
lately, haven't you?"
"Preoccupied?
Why would you say that?" I said nervously, finally realizing that I was
holding my book upside down and that I was about to take a drink from my
pencil rather then my cup. I blushed and quickly freed my hands of all
the objects they were holding.
"You haven't
nagged us about homework or playing exploding snap too loud or anything,"
Harry pointed out.
"I really
need to go to sleep. I have to wake up early tomorrow so I can go to the
library," I said, getting up and pushing my chair in.
"G'night,
Hermione," Ron said, accidentally brushing my hand with his. Or was it
an accident?
"G'night,"
I whispered, and walked up to the dormitories.
***
Tomorrow
we had potions, and I had to work with her. . . I would talk to her then,
I decided. I closed my eyes, but her image drifted into my mind. I rolled
over to look out the window, but I could swear that I saw her shadow. I
squinted and noticed that it had begun to snow. Holding my breath, and
making sure to be very quiet, I got out of bed.
***
I looked
out the window. I could see the clock shining next to me. It said it was
past midnight. I looked outside again, trying to find something that I
had lost that morning in the never ending darkness that was only lit by
the vanilla haziness of the tin foil, opal moon.
"Snow!"
I suddenly whispered, noticing little, fluttering rose-petal-like snow
flakes fall from the gray sky. I could just sneak out one more night. .
. just one more night. . . just to sit outside and look at the snow. I
sat up excitedly, grabbed a warm cloak, and sneaked out of the bedroom.
***
I looked
at the grounds for a minute, watching as the snow softly blanketed the
thinning grass. No one in sight. . . just the quiet night, and the moon,
a pair of hazel eyes, and me. Wait a minute. . . a pair of hazel eyes?
They looked so familiar. I saw them glow in the distance. . . catlike,
almost.
***
I stomped
through the frozen Hogwarts grounds, taking a moment now and then to look
up at the sky and catch snow flakes with my tongue. All my thoughts of
Malfoy were forgotten. I pushed a strand of hair out of my eyes, sat down
in the freezing, thin snow, and threw my billowing cloak around my frail
body to keep out the hungry cold.
***
I finally
realize it's her. It's Hermione. Hermione. . . Hermione. . . Hermione.
My heart beat faster as I went to her, my feet trudging in the snow, my
toes becoming numb.
"Why is
it we always are in the same place to think?" I could hear her whisper,
her voice faint and dwindling from the night before.
***
A pale boy
with flaxen hair sat beside me. He looked at me with those mysterious,
silvery gray eyes, his face completely expressionless. Hot anger flared
up inside me. Why did he have to be everywhere I went?
"Go to hell,
Malfoy. Go to hell," I spat, running my finger through the snow aimlessly.
"Don't tell
me to go to hell, bitch," he said, catching my finger with his own.
"Go to hell,
go to hell, go-o-o-o to-o-o-o hell," I sang to the tune of some crazy,
little, childish taunt.
"Shut up!"
he screamed, his lonely voice echoing helplessly through the charged, night
air.
***
"Go to hell,
go to hell, go-o-o-o to-o-o hell," she mused. I turned to face her, my
cold finger still touching hers.
"Shut up!"
I screamed. She looked down at our entwined fingers quietly. . . I could
tell she was beginning to grow uncomfortable with
the deafening silence.
"You make
me feel so unlike myself, Draco," she whispered finally, "It's like. .
. I don't care about studying or being at the top of the class or getting
all the answers
right."
I look at
her for a moment, noticing a lonely tear meander down her cheek, as if
looking for the way down.
***
"You make
me feel so unlike myself, Draco," I said barely above a whisper, "It's
like. . . I don't care about studying or being at the top of the class
or getting all the answers right."
He stared
at me, his eyes traveling from my trembling lips to my tearful eyes.
"I suppose
I want you because I can't have you, Granger," he said, breaking the tense
silence. He put his arms around my waist and pulled me closer.
"No. . .
no," I cried weakly, "You can't. Please let go." I pressed my hands against
his chest, trying to push him away from me. As far away from me as possible.
. . he scared me. . . he made me want to cry and laugh and scream and sit
still and live and die all at the same time.
"Don't say
no to me," he said, his lips finally finding mine. He kissed me until my
lips softened to his, moving in the way that he wanted me to. The smell
of lemons and mint lingered about him.
"I'm sorry!
I'm sorry!" he said as he abruptly pushed away from me. I looked up at
him, still trying to catch my breath. His shove had thrown my on my back.
"I'm sorry!
I'm sorry!' I said, suddenly shoving her away from me. I guess I had pushed
a little too hard, because she fell on her back. She got up shakily, dusting
snow flakes from her eye lashes, hair, and skin.
** this isn't a real cliff hanger,
either!!! i'm sorry if u like them.. all right.. now u can
review telling me if u still want
more.. i hoped u liked this one! thanks for reading! luv
u! ;)
