Hey everyone...Sorry once again...took a while. I have a good excuse this time...I lost my disk. I left it in a computer at school because I was working on this and I totally forgot about it over the weekend. Thankfully, the teacher found it before some kid did, and he gave it back to me before Christmas break. I'd be totally pissed if I didn't have it for the holiday. To tide over the time I didn't have my disk, I made a bunch of notes on the sequel to this story. So yes, there will be a sequel. I even have a title for it and I'm pretty sure I know what the whole story is going to be, so all that's left is the hard part; writing it. Well, that's the hard, annoyingly long part for me, at least. So, without further ado, I bring to you chapter 8
(Once again, un-beta'd version. Good one will be out soon J)
The Greatest of Sacrifices
Blah…can't think of a title at the moment…
Written by Kate Potter (MF)
December 22, 2002, 1:34 p.m. (No insomnia with this one!)
Hermione had gone to sleep with many thoughts of the night when the Death Eaters abducted her. Many of her thoughts were on the previous night, but every minute, Draco's face flashed in her mind and she felt horrible. She would think about how safe she had felt with him and how happy he had made her feel. Now he made her feel the exact opposite. She didn't know how she was going to act in classes from then on with him around. She didn't think she would be able to deal with him still being there.
For the first few days after Halloween, Hermione stayed in the infirmary. Harry and Ron had visited her first. She tried to hold in her tears whenever she looked up at Harry. Ron tried, and failed, to cheer everyone up by saying how Hermione's hair was a nice change. Hermione had to admit that it actually looked alright. The initial shock of having white blond hair had worn off and it was beginning to grow on her. Ginny had stopped by every now and then to give Hermione some company.
Hermione finally left the infirmary at the end of the first week of November. At least that way she wouldn't have to go to classes right away. When she walked through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room, almost everyone's head turned. She couldn't tell if they were looking at her, wondering why she had blond hair or wondering who she was completely. At a table near the fireplace, she could see Harry and Ron sitting, playing chess. Ron did a double take when he saw her and called her name.
"Hermione!" he said, waving her over.
She walked towards them and saw the other students whispering and staring out of the corner of her eye. She sat down next to Harry and couldn't help but smile, feeling happy for the first time in a while, even if it was only slightly.
Harry put his arm across her shoulders.
"Welcome back Hermione" He said cheerfully. "We've been just scraping through our homework without you here!"
Hermione laughed with the two of them and watched them finish their chess game, in which Harry had become completely defenseless except for a single pawn and the king himself. After Ron had mercilessly defeated Harry, they sat and talked about what happened during the week. Hermione had been watching the flames in the fireplace lazily and wasn't really tuned into their conversation. That is, until they mentioned Draco.
"I wonder what's been up with Malfoy lately." Ron said, "I couldn't care less if something's wrong with him. It's kind of a relief that he's shut up."
"Yeah," Harry started, "Hopefully it's for good."
"What about Draco?" Hermione interrupted.
Ron looked at her strangely.
"Um…Malfoy hasn't said a word in the past week." He said, "And when Snape called on him the other day, the little git totally ignored him."
"It seems like he's in a completely different world." Harry said, "And with a bit of luck he'll stay that way."
"Oh." Hermione said, anger welling up inside of her. "Yeah. Hopefully."
She stared at the flames in the fireplace once more, a look of pure hate on her face.
~~~
Draco held a quill tightly in his hand and stared at a blank piece of parchment on the table he was sitting at. He wanted so desperately to talk to her, but he knew that she wouldn't listen. He wasn't even sure if she would even read a letter he sent to her.
He sighed deeply. He had only been thinking about her the past week. His school work had been suffering greatly and he himself was a mess. He hadn't taken proper care of his hair, so it hung down freely in front of his face. His robes were wrinkled and his tie was always loosely done.
He dropped his quill with a groan and put his forehead in his hands. He closed his eyes and Hermione's face flashed across his mind. He groaned again and slammed his hands down on the table. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He looked around his dorm. There was no one else in the room with him. Everyone had left him alone, realizing something was wrong. Every once in a while, Vince would come up to give him some food from the table, since he had also stopped eating meals.
He felt stinging in his eyes as he sat there, staring at the blank piece of parchment lying on the table. He shook it off and picked up his quill once again. He dipped it in his ink bottle and pressed the tip to the parchment. A small, black blob was starting to form as he kept the quill there. An old clock across the room chimed 10 and Draco started to write. He wrote for nearly an hour, since he would write something he didn't like and start completely over. Finally, at a couple minutes before 11, Draco finished and read over his letter. For the first time in 17 years, Draco released something that had been threatening to escape for the past week. A single tear hit the 'o' at the end of his name in the letter. He wiped his eyes furiously, angry with himself, and folded the letter, got up and stepped out of the Slytherin dorms and common room just as the clock struck 11.
~~~
Hermione was in her dorm, lying on her bed, which was much more comfortable than the one in the infirmary. She was very tired, but Ginny felt quite opposite and wouldn't stop talking.
"...so now basically everything is cancelled! It's awful!" Ginny exclaimed. "Quidditch is over forever, I think! I can't believe it!"
"Uh huh" Hermione mumbled. She really did feel bad for Ginny, but Hermione was tired and had many other things on her mind. She was just about to drift off to sleep when she heard a sharp tapping at the window next to her.
"What was that?" She heard Ginny say.
Hermione turned her head towards the window and saw that there was a very large, beautiful owl perched outside it with a piece of parchment in its mouth. Hermione slowly got up and walked to the window. She pushed it open and shivered a bit as the cool, November air blew in. The owl dropped the parchment in her hand before Hermione could say anything and flew away. Hermione quickly unfolded the message and read, "Hermione," But instead of going on, she looked right to the end and read, "-Draco". Her fist started shaking and she dropped the letter to the floor.
"Hermione?" Ginny said slowly and cautiously. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," She said blankly, looking out the window.
Ginny didn't say anything for a few moments and just sat awkwardly on her bed.
"So who wrote the letter?" She asked finally.
Hermione knew she shouldn't be annoyed with Ginny's questions, but her mood took a considerably large step down.
"...Malfoy."
Although Hermione couldn't see Ginny's face, she knew she must have been quite confused. Ginny was one of Hermione's closest friends, but she hadn't told her about Draco yet.
"So..." Ginny started, "...why aren't you reading it?"
"I'm too tired." Hermione said lazily, removing her gaze from the window and walking towards the door. "You read it."
If Ginny was ever confused in her life, she was downright perplexed now. She watched in wonder as Hermione picked up her cloak and stepped out of the dorm even though she had just said she was too tired to even read a letter. Ginny sat up from her bed and walked over to the window. She bent down and picked up the letter that was lying on the floor. She unfolded it and started to read it.
"Hermione,
I know you probably never want to look at me, much less speak to me again. I don't blame you at all. What I did can never be forgiven, but you must believe me that I would never do anything to hurt you now. It's hard for me to say this, but you mean everything to me. I would die for you...that's a promise. You don't have to forgive me. I wouldn't if I were you. Hell, you probably ripped this parchment to shreds before you read the first line.
The reason I send this message isn't to plead for your understanding or make you feel guilty. This is a mere request to talk to you. I would have liked to tell you all of this personally, in case this got in the wrong hands."
Ginny cringed inwardly and reluctantly read on.
"You don't have to, of course. You can even bring someone else with you if you don't trust me, which is reasonable. You can bring the whole bloody school if you want, it doesn't matter. I don't care what everyone else thinks of me anymore. I only care about you. If you are willing to meet me, go to the dungeon across from Snape's room tomorrow night. It doesn't matter what time, I'll be there. I promise.
-Draco"
Ginny, perhaps more confused than she had been before, reread the letter over a few times. This didn't sound like the usual cool-tempered, arrogant Draco she always knew. He seemed to take on a whole new personality altogether. If she hadn't recognized his jagged handwriting, she would have thought someone else had written the letter.
The last time she read the letter, she had noticed something that she hadn't before. On the very last part; the 'o' at the end of his name to be precise, it was blotchy and smeared a bit. As if...
"No" Ginny thought to herself, "That couldn't be."
Just thinking of Draco shedding a tear made her want to laugh. But his letter was no laughing matter. He had done something, and by the sound of the letter, something terrible, and that was the reason why Hermione was acting so strangely.
She sat in her own thoughts for a moment, realizing that if she showed Hermione the letter, she probably wouldn't read it, much less go meet Draco.
An idea suddenly spurred into her head and she thought about it intently for a moment. Yeah, it would involve lying and anger and maybe even a little cursing here and there, but hell, didn't everything that Ginny did?
She smiled at nothing in particular as she thought to herself, "I'm such a genious."
~~~
Hermione had hoped Ginny wouldn't follow her out the dorm. She didn't get much farther than outside of the door. She just stood and stared at the darkness that was the night all around her. Silent tears fell down the side of her face as millions of questions raced through her mind. All of them starting as "Why…?" She was just about to step back inside when a voice from behind called her name.
"Hermione."
Harry appeared in front of her as she turned, a look of concern on his face, just looking at him made Hermione want to cry out loud. To Harry's surprise, Hermione just hugged him, but he returned the embrace nonetheless.
Without warning, the tears came.
"Hey…" Harry said gently, "It's okay 'mione.", even though he wasn't really too sure.
Hermione wept into the front of his robes as he rested his chin on her head and one hand rubbing her back sympathetically. To Harry's disappointment, Hermione let go. She stared at his robes where she had been crying and touched the tear-stained spot on his shirt.
"I'm sorry…" She said, for more reasons than one.
He held her small hand inside his own.
"Don't worry about it." He said quietly, brushing away a few loose strands of hair in her face.
"Harry…" She said breathlessly.
"Great
wizards!" She thought to herself. "He isn't going
to try to do what I think he is….is he?"
But he was.
Harry leaned down closer to her face, but before Hermione could stop him and to her great surprise, Harry merely kissed her on the forehead.
"It's late Hermione." He said smiling. "Get some rest."
Harry squeezed her shoulder affectionately and started walking towards his own dorms.
"Goodnight Harry." She called to him.
He turned and looked at her, smiling.
"Night Hermione."
And then he was gone.
She stared at the darkness where Harry disappeared. It reminded her of the time when she met Draco late one night so long ago. She had desperately wanted to follow him as well as wanted to stay as far away from him as possible. She slapped herself mentally for feeling that way about Draco Malfoy. Hell, she wanted to literally slap herself for feeling anything for Draco Malfoy.
A moment later, Hermione opened the door to her dorm and stepped through. She collapsed on her bed and saw the letter from Draco sitting, folded no less, on her dresser.
"Did Ginny read it?" She wondered to herself. It was on the dresser instead of the floor. Maybe she just picked it up? She was too tired to think about it.
But, on the other hand, it was really bothering her.
She picked up the letter and started ripping it. At first she was just slowly ripping it, then she slowly became angrier and it turned into furious shredding. There was nothing much left of the piece of parchment except for words here and there that Hermione still felt no need to read. She picked up all the pieces she could, got up, and walked to the window. When she opened it, the usual November breeze blew in once again, giving her goosebumps. Hermione slowly placed her closed fist outside the window. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and whispered, "Goodbye Draco.", before opening her hand and letting the tattered remains of the parchment fly into the night.
~~~
So what did you all think? I know, it's kinda boring, but I don't think it would sound right for Hermione to just forgive and forget just like that. I am, however, finding a hard time writing about Hermione hating Draco. You know how you kinda have to put yourself if the character's shoes so you can really get it right? Well, that means I literally have to hate Draco, and I so hate hating Draco. Anywho, even though I say this every time, I do think that the next chapter should be out quite soon, since I'm on my winter break. Now for the thankyou's which I promised last time!
Chapter 6:
CrimsonFirebolt: Thank you very much! I think I like your "Modern Speech" better ;)
Hollie: Haha...I'll try not to write really bad cliffies anymore. But they do help to keep the readers coming back, I must say.
Insane|Retardian (lol): Thanks a lot! I think you're correct in saying that it's getting better as it goes. I even like it more now! Imagine that!
thewhitediablo: Thanks. From the original stories, I never got a clear characterization of Ginny, it just seemed she'd be that way. *phew* At least someone likes cliffies!
macabre: Adorable? aww...thanks. Good to hear someone gets caught up in my story.
The Little Mishap:
CrimsonFirebolt: Thanks, but I wouldn't feel too bad for me...I'm a pretty big klutz. Stuff seems to happen all the time ;)
Hollie: Thank you. Reviewers like you really make me want to keep writing...or else you just guilted me into it ;)
Sucker For Romance: Thanks. Things have gotten quite better, fortunately.
Chapter 7:
Escaflowne no Miko: I have updated...now! haha...yes...Draco is quite the topic for daydreaming, isn't he?
CrimsonFirebolt: lol...i like how you fit in 'leather pants' at the end of your rambling...very nice...yet giving me naught Draco ideas...*swoon* ;)
dragoness666: Yeah, I like fics like that, too. Unfortunately, they're much easier to read than to write. :S
Julie: Don't worry, love triangle on the way. You'll see it in this chapter a bit. ;)
Reader: Was it? Thanks!
Phew...that looks like that's about it for now. Thanks for all the reviews and review more more more! Whee! Reviews are #1!!! Whoo hoo! ...*ahem* okay well, ...*cough cough* I'm done.
-Kate Potter (MF)