AN: This…is…the…last…chapter…::light shines down:: Hallelujah! ::ah ah ah
ah ah…:: Well, things shall conclude…and I have an idea brewing for
another story…haha…
Disclaimer: Would if I could but I can't.
Chapter Fourteen: Of A Time I Tried So Hard
Harry's mouth fell open in sync with Ron's when Hermione pressed herself against Malfoy. Harry turned his head slowly to Ron's, who had a look of anger…his ears were red, and his eyes were very glassy. 'So this is what he saw in the library…' he thought.
He thought.
How funny it was to say now! He could only just imagine what was going through Ron's head now. He had turned away, but he was still blushing. And they were still kissing. 'Don't they need air?'
Finally, with a big whoosh-like noise, they broke apart. Hermione's face was rather a funny shade of magenta, in blotches. Malfoy's normal pale face was an interesting shade of pink. Harry didn't think Malfoys blush. Then again, he thought they didn't fall in love with Muggle-born girls, either.
Malfoy looked at Harry, then to Ron, a look of triumph on his face. He smirked at Ron, who was still looking away. "Eh, Weasley, haven't got a comeback? What, no infamous retort, Potter, like you usually come up with?"
Harry glared at Malfoy, then looked at Ron. Ron's head was still turned to the side. His eyes were downcast. Then, without any warning, Ron swung back and punch Malfoy right in the stomach. Doubling over, with his hands clutched to his middle, Malfoy backed up a few feet. He wheezed, "You bastard!"
"Yeah, well, same to you!" Ron yelled, rearing back for another punch. This time, though, Malfoy caught it with his hand. Ron then took his left hand and pulled out his wand.
"Ron, no!" Harry yelled, trying to break the two of them up. "Stop it!"
Ron pulled back his fist, threw his wand into his other hand, and yelled a well placed Jelly-Legs Jinx on Malfoy.
As Malfoy began to wobble, Malfoy turned and yelled another curse at him—"Furnunculus!", to which missed Ron by very little--Ron had turned to see Malfoy yell the curse, and flipped around, bending backwards at the waist to barely miss it.
"Go to Hell, Malfoy!" Ron yelled, and pointed his wand at Malfoy, who was still wiggling. Finally, Malfoy pointed his wand at his legs, and performed the counter-jinx, quickly looking back up at Ron.
"Give me a reason, and I will do it," Ron whispered menacingly, pointing his wand at Malfoy's face. "One reason, that's it." Ron's face was flushed, and his hand was shaking with anger mixed with adrenaline. The hand that held the wand, however, was completely still. Harry looked from Ron to Malfoy, and back again.
"Ron, stop it, you're going to get expelled," Harry said quietly, stepping forward a little.
A voice from the side tutted. "Aren't you going a little overboard?" Hermione huffed, her hands on her waist. "For heavens' sakes', Ron, put your wand down before you doing something you might regret."
Ron ignored her. "Maybe I should write Daddy Malfoy about your girlfriend, eh, Malfoy? Tell him you're in love with a Muggle-born witch?"
"That will get her killed, you moron," Malfoy snapped back, glaring at Ron.
"As if I care," Ron said loftily, taking a step back. "I stopped caring."
"You're in denial, Ron!" Hermione shrieked, holding her hands up to her face. She didn't doubt Ron at this point. "You're going to regret this if you do. You can't hate me that much."
Ron smiled. It was an odd smile, because only one half of his mouth was upturned. He started to shake in what Harry mistook as anger, but began to hear Ron laugh. Ron was laughing at Hermione.
"I…" he paused to catch his breath, and calmed down, "I shall never regret what I do. I only regret…ever thinking that you could like a guy like me."
Ron stepped back again, and again. He stepped back until he hit the wall, continually staring at the floor. Harry turned his head sideways, trying to figure out what could be going though Ron's mind. This wasn't the first time Harry wished he could read other people's minds.
"Just what is going on out here, Potter? Weasley?" a cold voice said behind them. Harry turned around and saw Professor Snape, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed at all of them. Harry could just picture what was going through his mind at this very second: Malfoy, clutching he stomach still; Hermione at the brink of tears; Ron's wand out backed against the wall; and himself, in the middle of it all.
Ron turned slowly to Professor Snape, and a small smile came across his face. Harry's stomach sank: he was going to tell Snape about Malfoy and Hermione. He could tell it, just by looking at Ron. Hermione let out a stifled cry.
"Professor," he said slowly, "I'm about to go to the Owlery. I just lost my appetite," he said thickly, staring right at Hermione. "Perhaps you should explain to Malfoy and," he paused, still looking at Hermione, "Granger," he spat, "the facts of life."
With that, he turned on his heel and began to head the opposite direction from the Owlery.
It was all Harry could do to catch up with Ron. "Ron," he wheezed, "wait!"
Ron stopped so abruptly that he smacked into the back of him. "What, Harry?" he said darkly.
"Don't do this, Hermione never knew that you liked her," Harry started.
"Don't do what, Harry? I don't care about Hermione not liking me. How could she pick Malfoy over me? Over anyone? Anyway, I don't even care about her anymore."
Ron was silent for a second. Harry could resist, and asked, "Is that what you saw in the library?"
Ron looked up. "Yeah, I did," he replied. "Why did she do it? Why?"
"Because," a voice said, "I love him."
Ron and Harry turned around quickly to see Hermione standing there, holding up Ron's bag, as well as Harry's and her own. "I think I have some explaining to do," she said slowly.
"You sure as hell have some explaining to do!" Ron exclaimed, clenching his fist. "But I think I have the whole of it, you traitor," he muttered.
"Now just a moment," she said, holding out his bag. "Please listen. I never meant to hurt you. I—I never knew that you liked me like that."
"Well, now you do, so just get on with whatever you guys were doing," he said angrily, grabbed his bag from her hands, and stomped off.
Harry turned to follow but Hermione's hand caught his sleeve. "Harry, wait," she said, tugging on his sleeve, "listen please."
Harry turned slowly to Hermione. "Well?" he prompted. "I'm listening."
"I—I truly did not know that Ron liked me," she started. "And, well, I really do love Draco," she said, and Harry flinched at the sound of his name.
"How…?" was all that Harry could mutter, before he yanked his arm out of her reach. "Why?"
Hermione took a big breath. "It was just after school started. I was in the library, looking up some information for Professor Flitwick's class, when I found a note merged in my notebook. It was from Viktor Krum. At the end of last year, before he got on his ship and left, I accidentally bumped my books into his. I assumed it was for me, and opened it. It was—erm, it was a love letter. To another girl. It said that he was playing me on and that it was funny to watch someone so naïve think she stood a chance with Viktor.
"Well, I started to cry, and Draco came over. I told him to get lost…"
"Get lost Malfoy," I sniffled, drying my face quickly with the back of my hand. I stuck the note in the back of my Transfiguration book, and looked back up at him.
"What happened?" he sneered, crossing his arms. "Your boy-toy Krum call it off?"
I glared at him with a contemptuous face. "The hell you know, Malfoy. Get away from me." I started to gather my belongings and shoved all my books into my bag.
Malfoy walked over to the table and set his hand down firmly on the book I was about to pick up. "Why don't you tell me what's really wrong?" he said quietly, not looking at me.
I glanced at him disbelief. "What?" Was Malfoy actually trying to be nice to me? It had to be a trap of some sort.
"You heard me," Malfoy said jokingly, his mouth forming a small smile.
"Is this a trap?" I asked, still standing there. "Are you going to mock me endlessly when I go away?"
"No," he said, "I just want to talk to you. You are a lot nicer than Potter and the Weasel. Plus, you stand up to me much better," he finished with a grin, his face a rather pinkish color.
"Why would I talk to you? All you ever have called me is bad names and constantly made fun of me. No, I'd rather spill my deepest darkest desire to Snape than talk to you," I said, pulling the book out from underneath his hand and stuffing it into my already overfull bag.
I picked up another piece of paper and was about to put it into my bag when Malfoy grabbed my hand. The piece of paper fell out and drifted slowly to the floor. "Please don't make this any harder than it already is. I feel kind of foolish saying this—" Foolish? I thought. I didn't think Draco Malfoy felt foolish. "—but I kind of like you."
My jaw dropped, and he glanced at me. His face looked sincere and truthful, but in the back of my mind I knew it was a trick to through me off. He took his hand and closed my mouth. "Not very ladylike, is it?" he whispered.
I was caught off guard by all this. My mind screamed get away before I made myself look like a fool, but somewhere…deep inside my heart…this was right…
"Malfoy—" I started.
"Draco," he interrupted.
"Whatever. I…um, I…" I started to stutter. He was awfully close.
"Look, I don't take this kind of thing jokingly. Let's just say, over the summer I've had…a change of heart."
A change of heart? How about a change of personality mixed with a chance of death? If his father ever found out he was hitting on a Muggle- born for sincere reasons, he'd be dead…
"Don't do this if you aren't serious," I said, and took his hand off of my chin. "Don't."
He looked at me. "But I am serious," he replied, squeezing my hand.
My knees shook a little. Draco Malfoy…interested in…me? What the hell was going on? Was Harry going to announce he was a Death Eater? And Voldemort drinks tea with stuffed animals, too, right?
"I…don't know…" I murmured, my face growing red. "This is way too much of a risk—"
I was silenced by a kiss.
"…and that was it. We've been…erm, dating, I guess would be more right, ever since."
"Well, what about that night we were studying for our Potions exam? Who did I see you with?"
Hermione flushed. "You saw us? Erm, that was us…"
"But Ron—"
"Yeah, he decided that he was going to take a look outside when Draco squeezed through in his Invisibility Cloak. I told Ron that it was just my imagination and that there was no one outside then. You must have come down when Ron was outside, because Draco slipped off his cloak really quickly and gave me a kiss…" Hermione blushed.
"And you did this with all that risk to you? And Ron? And me?"
"I didn't do it on purpose! Can't I just be a girl in love without any of the consequences?"
"It doesn't work that way Hermione," Harry said slowly. "Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater. You are Muggle-born. This won't work out the way you want it to!"
Hermione stamped her foot. "All of you people are unreasonable. I love Draco and there's nothing anyone can do!"
"Well," Harry said, "what are you going to do about Ron?"
"Ron will get over it. It's hormones," she replied loftily. "Now, if you excuse me, I want to go and eat."
She shoved Harry's books into his hand, turned on her heel, and left.
"Ron?" Harry asked, stepping into the Common Room. "You here?"
"Yeah," he said absentmindedly, poking at the fire.
"You all right?"
"Yeah. You? What did she say?"
"She explained everything to me."
"I don't want to hear it."
"I wasn't going to tell you. Will you ever talk to her again?"
"No. Never."
"Oh." They were quiet for a second. "Do you think things will change between all of us now?"
"I have no doubt in my mind, Harry. Everything is going to be different now."
THAT'S ALL FOLKS! SEE YOU ON THE FLIP SIDE!
Everything should make some sense. ::smooch:: Love you all, thanks for staying with me throughout this. Erica, if you ever read this, man, thanks so much! Jess, you too! Talk to you all later. Bye!
Disclaimer: Would if I could but I can't.
Chapter Fourteen: Of A Time I Tried So Hard
Harry's mouth fell open in sync with Ron's when Hermione pressed herself against Malfoy. Harry turned his head slowly to Ron's, who had a look of anger…his ears were red, and his eyes were very glassy. 'So this is what he saw in the library…' he thought.
He thought.
How funny it was to say now! He could only just imagine what was going through Ron's head now. He had turned away, but he was still blushing. And they were still kissing. 'Don't they need air?'
Finally, with a big whoosh-like noise, they broke apart. Hermione's face was rather a funny shade of magenta, in blotches. Malfoy's normal pale face was an interesting shade of pink. Harry didn't think Malfoys blush. Then again, he thought they didn't fall in love with Muggle-born girls, either.
Malfoy looked at Harry, then to Ron, a look of triumph on his face. He smirked at Ron, who was still looking away. "Eh, Weasley, haven't got a comeback? What, no infamous retort, Potter, like you usually come up with?"
Harry glared at Malfoy, then looked at Ron. Ron's head was still turned to the side. His eyes were downcast. Then, without any warning, Ron swung back and punch Malfoy right in the stomach. Doubling over, with his hands clutched to his middle, Malfoy backed up a few feet. He wheezed, "You bastard!"
"Yeah, well, same to you!" Ron yelled, rearing back for another punch. This time, though, Malfoy caught it with his hand. Ron then took his left hand and pulled out his wand.
"Ron, no!" Harry yelled, trying to break the two of them up. "Stop it!"
Ron pulled back his fist, threw his wand into his other hand, and yelled a well placed Jelly-Legs Jinx on Malfoy.
As Malfoy began to wobble, Malfoy turned and yelled another curse at him—"Furnunculus!", to which missed Ron by very little--Ron had turned to see Malfoy yell the curse, and flipped around, bending backwards at the waist to barely miss it.
"Go to Hell, Malfoy!" Ron yelled, and pointed his wand at Malfoy, who was still wiggling. Finally, Malfoy pointed his wand at his legs, and performed the counter-jinx, quickly looking back up at Ron.
"Give me a reason, and I will do it," Ron whispered menacingly, pointing his wand at Malfoy's face. "One reason, that's it." Ron's face was flushed, and his hand was shaking with anger mixed with adrenaline. The hand that held the wand, however, was completely still. Harry looked from Ron to Malfoy, and back again.
"Ron, stop it, you're going to get expelled," Harry said quietly, stepping forward a little.
A voice from the side tutted. "Aren't you going a little overboard?" Hermione huffed, her hands on her waist. "For heavens' sakes', Ron, put your wand down before you doing something you might regret."
Ron ignored her. "Maybe I should write Daddy Malfoy about your girlfriend, eh, Malfoy? Tell him you're in love with a Muggle-born witch?"
"That will get her killed, you moron," Malfoy snapped back, glaring at Ron.
"As if I care," Ron said loftily, taking a step back. "I stopped caring."
"You're in denial, Ron!" Hermione shrieked, holding her hands up to her face. She didn't doubt Ron at this point. "You're going to regret this if you do. You can't hate me that much."
Ron smiled. It was an odd smile, because only one half of his mouth was upturned. He started to shake in what Harry mistook as anger, but began to hear Ron laugh. Ron was laughing at Hermione.
"I…" he paused to catch his breath, and calmed down, "I shall never regret what I do. I only regret…ever thinking that you could like a guy like me."
Ron stepped back again, and again. He stepped back until he hit the wall, continually staring at the floor. Harry turned his head sideways, trying to figure out what could be going though Ron's mind. This wasn't the first time Harry wished he could read other people's minds.
"Just what is going on out here, Potter? Weasley?" a cold voice said behind them. Harry turned around and saw Professor Snape, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed at all of them. Harry could just picture what was going through his mind at this very second: Malfoy, clutching he stomach still; Hermione at the brink of tears; Ron's wand out backed against the wall; and himself, in the middle of it all.
Ron turned slowly to Professor Snape, and a small smile came across his face. Harry's stomach sank: he was going to tell Snape about Malfoy and Hermione. He could tell it, just by looking at Ron. Hermione let out a stifled cry.
"Professor," he said slowly, "I'm about to go to the Owlery. I just lost my appetite," he said thickly, staring right at Hermione. "Perhaps you should explain to Malfoy and," he paused, still looking at Hermione, "Granger," he spat, "the facts of life."
With that, he turned on his heel and began to head the opposite direction from the Owlery.
It was all Harry could do to catch up with Ron. "Ron," he wheezed, "wait!"
Ron stopped so abruptly that he smacked into the back of him. "What, Harry?" he said darkly.
"Don't do this, Hermione never knew that you liked her," Harry started.
"Don't do what, Harry? I don't care about Hermione not liking me. How could she pick Malfoy over me? Over anyone? Anyway, I don't even care about her anymore."
Ron was silent for a second. Harry could resist, and asked, "Is that what you saw in the library?"
Ron looked up. "Yeah, I did," he replied. "Why did she do it? Why?"
"Because," a voice said, "I love him."
Ron and Harry turned around quickly to see Hermione standing there, holding up Ron's bag, as well as Harry's and her own. "I think I have some explaining to do," she said slowly.
"You sure as hell have some explaining to do!" Ron exclaimed, clenching his fist. "But I think I have the whole of it, you traitor," he muttered.
"Now just a moment," she said, holding out his bag. "Please listen. I never meant to hurt you. I—I never knew that you liked me like that."
"Well, now you do, so just get on with whatever you guys were doing," he said angrily, grabbed his bag from her hands, and stomped off.
Harry turned to follow but Hermione's hand caught his sleeve. "Harry, wait," she said, tugging on his sleeve, "listen please."
Harry turned slowly to Hermione. "Well?" he prompted. "I'm listening."
"I—I truly did not know that Ron liked me," she started. "And, well, I really do love Draco," she said, and Harry flinched at the sound of his name.
"How…?" was all that Harry could mutter, before he yanked his arm out of her reach. "Why?"
Hermione took a big breath. "It was just after school started. I was in the library, looking up some information for Professor Flitwick's class, when I found a note merged in my notebook. It was from Viktor Krum. At the end of last year, before he got on his ship and left, I accidentally bumped my books into his. I assumed it was for me, and opened it. It was—erm, it was a love letter. To another girl. It said that he was playing me on and that it was funny to watch someone so naïve think she stood a chance with Viktor.
"Well, I started to cry, and Draco came over. I told him to get lost…"
"Get lost Malfoy," I sniffled, drying my face quickly with the back of my hand. I stuck the note in the back of my Transfiguration book, and looked back up at him.
"What happened?" he sneered, crossing his arms. "Your boy-toy Krum call it off?"
I glared at him with a contemptuous face. "The hell you know, Malfoy. Get away from me." I started to gather my belongings and shoved all my books into my bag.
Malfoy walked over to the table and set his hand down firmly on the book I was about to pick up. "Why don't you tell me what's really wrong?" he said quietly, not looking at me.
I glanced at him disbelief. "What?" Was Malfoy actually trying to be nice to me? It had to be a trap of some sort.
"You heard me," Malfoy said jokingly, his mouth forming a small smile.
"Is this a trap?" I asked, still standing there. "Are you going to mock me endlessly when I go away?"
"No," he said, "I just want to talk to you. You are a lot nicer than Potter and the Weasel. Plus, you stand up to me much better," he finished with a grin, his face a rather pinkish color.
"Why would I talk to you? All you ever have called me is bad names and constantly made fun of me. No, I'd rather spill my deepest darkest desire to Snape than talk to you," I said, pulling the book out from underneath his hand and stuffing it into my already overfull bag.
I picked up another piece of paper and was about to put it into my bag when Malfoy grabbed my hand. The piece of paper fell out and drifted slowly to the floor. "Please don't make this any harder than it already is. I feel kind of foolish saying this—" Foolish? I thought. I didn't think Draco Malfoy felt foolish. "—but I kind of like you."
My jaw dropped, and he glanced at me. His face looked sincere and truthful, but in the back of my mind I knew it was a trick to through me off. He took his hand and closed my mouth. "Not very ladylike, is it?" he whispered.
I was caught off guard by all this. My mind screamed get away before I made myself look like a fool, but somewhere…deep inside my heart…this was right…
"Malfoy—" I started.
"Draco," he interrupted.
"Whatever. I…um, I…" I started to stutter. He was awfully close.
"Look, I don't take this kind of thing jokingly. Let's just say, over the summer I've had…a change of heart."
A change of heart? How about a change of personality mixed with a chance of death? If his father ever found out he was hitting on a Muggle- born for sincere reasons, he'd be dead…
"Don't do this if you aren't serious," I said, and took his hand off of my chin. "Don't."
He looked at me. "But I am serious," he replied, squeezing my hand.
My knees shook a little. Draco Malfoy…interested in…me? What the hell was going on? Was Harry going to announce he was a Death Eater? And Voldemort drinks tea with stuffed animals, too, right?
"I…don't know…" I murmured, my face growing red. "This is way too much of a risk—"
I was silenced by a kiss.
"…and that was it. We've been…erm, dating, I guess would be more right, ever since."
"Well, what about that night we were studying for our Potions exam? Who did I see you with?"
Hermione flushed. "You saw us? Erm, that was us…"
"But Ron—"
"Yeah, he decided that he was going to take a look outside when Draco squeezed through in his Invisibility Cloak. I told Ron that it was just my imagination and that there was no one outside then. You must have come down when Ron was outside, because Draco slipped off his cloak really quickly and gave me a kiss…" Hermione blushed.
"And you did this with all that risk to you? And Ron? And me?"
"I didn't do it on purpose! Can't I just be a girl in love without any of the consequences?"
"It doesn't work that way Hermione," Harry said slowly. "Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater. You are Muggle-born. This won't work out the way you want it to!"
Hermione stamped her foot. "All of you people are unreasonable. I love Draco and there's nothing anyone can do!"
"Well," Harry said, "what are you going to do about Ron?"
"Ron will get over it. It's hormones," she replied loftily. "Now, if you excuse me, I want to go and eat."
She shoved Harry's books into his hand, turned on her heel, and left.
"Ron?" Harry asked, stepping into the Common Room. "You here?"
"Yeah," he said absentmindedly, poking at the fire.
"You all right?"
"Yeah. You? What did she say?"
"She explained everything to me."
"I don't want to hear it."
"I wasn't going to tell you. Will you ever talk to her again?"
"No. Never."
"Oh." They were quiet for a second. "Do you think things will change between all of us now?"
"I have no doubt in my mind, Harry. Everything is going to be different now."
THAT'S ALL FOLKS! SEE YOU ON THE FLIP SIDE!
Everything should make some sense. ::smooch:: Love you all, thanks for staying with me throughout this. Erica, if you ever read this, man, thanks so much! Jess, you too! Talk to you all later. Bye!
