Draco, Flipside

Day 5 of 7

Harry's eyes went cold as Hermione stepped into the common room that night. "I suppose you and Malfoy had a great time studying," he said. There was no mistaking the venom in his tone.

Hermione abruptly fell off of Cloud Nine and came to her senses again. "Wha…what?" she said, still sounding a bit dreamy.

Ron glared at her. "You, of all people! I can't believe you, I just can't"

"What the bloody hell are you two talking about?" she demanded. "What have I done that's so earth-shattering?"

Harry sat heavily in a winged armchair and buried his face in his hands. He was clearly too upset to speak to her. Ron, however, had plenty to say.

"YOU WERE SNOGGING MALFOY, YOU STUPID COW!" he shouted at her. His face had turned purple with rage, making his freckles stand out. "Harry went to the library soon after you left, since you forgot your Transfiguration book at the table and he wanted to give it to you. And he happened to come across an interesting scene…your face attached to Malfoy's rat face."

"Congeniality Concoction, my arse!" Seamus broke in. "If the bloke had any good in him he'd know to keep away from her!"

"Stop it! All of you, stop it!" Hermione cried. She went over to where Harry was seated and put her hand on his shoulder. "Harry, please. Look at me."

"I don't want to."

"Please. I know you're upset because of what you saw. But if you'd just listen—"

He raised his face then. His green eyes pierced hers with a malevolent glare. "What, you want to apologise? Apologise for what, Hermione? For making me believe that you had any feelings for me?" He deliberately turned his face, and pointed absently toward a small end table nearby. "There's your ruddy Transfiguration book. It's got something in it I wanted you to read, but now…I guess it doesn't matter."

Hermione turned to Ron. "What…"

"Get upstairs or something, before I hex you," he spat. He stormed out of the common room, placing a well-aimed kick to her cat's behind as he left. Crookshanks ran, hissing, up the stairs to the Girls' Dormitory.

She didn't sleep that night, mainly from her confusion over Malfoy's kiss ("Why didn't I push him away?") and Harry's letter in her Transfiguration book. In that letter, he had spilled out his feelings for her in such a beautiful way that Hermione had cried bitterly over the words on the parchment. What did they mean now? Harry would never want her now, not after what had happened. She wished that she had never agreed to "tutor" Malfoy when she had.

In the Great Hall the next morning, Hermione was slumped over her cold kippers and sausages when a snowy owl landed in front of her. Quickly clearing away the iced pumpkin juice it had spilled with her wand, she took the letter from it.

Dear Hermione,

I am so sorry about what happened. I know what went on in the Gryffindor common room last night, and I'm sorry it had to happen because of me. I'll understand if you don't want to speak to me again. –D.

Hermione glanced at the Slytherin table. Malfoy sat there, head bent over his plate, looking miserable. She had never seen him look like that before, unless you counted the times Slytherin lost against Gryffindor. Was he really that upset over the trouble he had caused between she and her friends? The thought of Malfoy with a conscience was disturbing.

It really didn't help that Parvati and Lavender were spreading the word like wildfire. As Hermione watched the two gleefully chattering away to some seventh-year Ravenclaws, she poked at her cold meal and wished she could hide in a hole somewhere and die.

"Hermione."

At the sound of Harry's voice, Hermione turned around quickly. They were outside, on their way to Care of Magical Creatures. She slipped on the wet grass and fell right on her butt.

"What do you want, Harry?" she groaned as she got to her feet.

He ducked his head. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did last night. If you want to be with Malfoy—with Draco, I guess that's none of my business."

She managed to look at him squarely. "You mean it? You're not upset?"

Harry grinned. "Cho Chang heard that I was well over you and asked me to go with her on the next Hogsmeade trip. So yeah, I guess I'm not that upset."

"Didn't take you long to get over me, did it?" she teased.

"I guess not."

Ron came up then, his robes billowing behind him. "What the—"

"It's okay, Ron," Harry said quickly. "We're good."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, then."

The three friends walked to class, all beaming and feeling better that they had made up.