Chapter 3: The Ice Prince
Classes were rough and Hermione was beat. The whole day she had been running from one class to another and to emergency meetings Dumbledore had called and she wasn't getting any slack from Malfoy either. Hermione wanted him to taunt her, tease her once again. She wanted to forget about that look in his eyes. She wanted him to hurt her. And she wanted to hurt him back. Hurt him so bad he'd feel the pain she felt that morning. She waited for him to insult her, and that would be her cue to do something equally painful to him. But he didn't. He just sneer at her, scoffed at her, but kept his distance. And this annoyed Hermione even more.
Why the bloody hell isn't he taunting me? That is not normal. She thought to herself. Usually Malfoy was up in his sleeve with all his jeers, calling her a Mudblood or some low-blow verbal abuse regarding her Muggle parents, or Harry or even her braininess. But today he didn't.
Hermione fled to their Common Room and planned to sleep right away. Her head hurt and she had no patience for small talk with Malfoy.
She entered the Common Room and she saw Malfoy seated in one of the many chairs. Hermione blocked her ears prepared for him to say something mean. But again he didn't. He just peered at her from over the magazine he was reading, Racing Brooms from Across the Ages, smirked and went back to his reading.
This irked Hermione once more and she marched to her room shaking her head.
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Draco glanced up from the magazine and watched Hermione leave the Common Room. He frowned. He didn't like what was happening. He couldn't make her see his gentler side. But she had. He knew she had. He could see it in her eyes. The way she looked into him when he realized how much he had hurt her.
He wasn't supposed to hurt her. He didn't like hurting people. He didn't want to grow up like his evil father. But he couldn't help himself sometimes. He couldn't stop that irrational side of him. But he decided that that would change. He shouldn't hurt her. He couldn't stoop that low. He did. But he won't. Not anymore. He didn't want to turn into his father. But in order to do that, it meant that he had to cage himself and stop tempting himself from hurting Granger.
Then it was decided that he would never act rashly. That only led to irrational behavior, and usually that meant violence. So Draco, right then and there, after hitting Hermione, resolved not to taunt Granger anymore.
He found that hard to follow however. The whole day he kept bumping into her. In class, on the way to class and in those doggone emergency meetings he kept seeing Granger. And it was hard to control his tongue from snapping at her. But he found himself cool enough just to sneer and jeer at her. And that was enough for him. Though not as satisfying as calling her a Mudblood, but good enough.
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Hermione jumped out of her bed. She couldn't seem to fall asleep. Every time she closed her eyes she could see Malfoy's eyes. The way he had looked at her that morning. But then they shifted to those ice-cold eyes he had shown her all day long.
What the hell is wrong with me?! This is not who I am. I am not supposed to spend my time focusing on the stupid git! What have I been turned into? She thought to herself. She pinched her right forearm tightly, forcing herself to wake up and get over Malfoy.
I am not going to think about him. I don't care what I saw in those eyes. I can't waste my time on him. Go to sleep Hermione. Got to sleep. She then closed her eyes and forced herself into Dreamland.
But as she stared into the blackness behind her eyelids a two orbs appeared. They were silver, and in they're center was a smaller ash-black orb. They were his eyes. They seemed peaceful. Tranquil. But then it was full of mixed emotions. Hurt, pain. Anger, melancholy. And even repressed joy. They stared at her. Prying itself into her soul. But then they jerked back. They were now icy cold. They dripped with ice water as they sneered at her. Nearly making her cry. They continued to sneer and stare at her, making her feel small. She shrunk, as the orbs grew bigger. A single drop of the ice water hit her. It stung cold. She burned with the iciness that had hit her. She felt her whole body freeze….
"Aaaah!" she screamed quickly sitting back up in her bed. Beads of sweat began to form on her temples. She glanced at her bedside clock. It read 7:30 am. It was morning. It was only a dream. Only a dream.
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Draco heard a loud scream from her bedroom. He jumped out off bed and was about to turn his doorknob and check if she was all right. But he held back.
No, I can't. I shouldn't.
He slowly lifted his hand off the knob and retreated to his bed. He inhaled deeply and in a second, exhaled. He then sat down on his bed. Relax Draco, relax. It's just the Mudblood…