Disclaimer: don't own Harry Potter, am not jk rowling, draco is not mine,
unfortunately.
~*~
Thank you's
~*~
Amanda: lol, why it reminds you of matt, candise, and I. . .I have no idea. Whatever you say there, manaize, lol.
Katie Crickett: hehe, strangeness. . .anyhoo, everyone should go check her out, cuz her stories are good. I promise.
DracoNmione: I wrote you an email about your review, I hope you got it. The review was helpful, but could you elaborate on what you did or didn't like, please?
Cowgirlkk12: thank you. Well, im writing again, lol.
Draco's one and only: does she know she has draco??? Hmmm. Not yet. . .hehehehe.
lost-wanderer: ok, Mr. "Lets make fun of the writer". Hehe, I'm just kidding zac, you know I love ya.
Hotvollyballgrl: thank ya betsy! Hehe.
Midnight-Primrose Riddle: Aww, this girl makes me so happy about my story, lol, she's always really nice and hyper to me in her reviews, hehe.
Me. . .: hmm, who is this me? *grins* don't worry, the draco and mione scenes will be here before you know it.
~*~
A/N: I'm not sure how this chapter is going to turn out, so bear with me, please. I swear (I hope) next chapter will be a lot smoother.
~*~
Chapter 10
~*~
Harry could not dislodge the confrontation with Hermione earlier that day from his mind. He remembered the look on her face, the one of pure horror, and how she had suddenly just wiped the look from her face, becoming unreadable, much like a certain ferret he knew.
'What was going on with her?' he wondered. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't think of anything that could be the matter with her, except for himself, of course. He sighed and reached down to the floor by his bed and picked up one of his shoes.
It hit his target perfectly in the back of the head. A once snoring Ron woke up quickly, startled by the hard clunk on his head. Harry snickered.
"What'd ya do that for, Harry?" he asked while rubbing the small lump that was beginning to surface under his hair.
"Sorry about that, Ron. I couldn't sleep. Had to talk to you," Harry explained rather dully.
Ron grimaced, "you could have just. . .you know, shook me awake. But no, you had to throw a bloody shoe at my head."
Harry chuckled a little, but then his face turned serious, "Can we go down to the common room?" he asked.
Ron scowled, "Can't we just talk about whatever it is in the morning? I'm tired."
Harry got to his feet and dragged Ron out of his bed, "Come on lazy, I really need to talk to you."
Ron landed on the floor by his bed with a thump. He stood up rubbing his bum and nodded silently.
The two walked down to the common room as quietly as possible. Once down there, Harry began speaking.
"Ok, do you have any idea about what's going on with Hermione?" he inquired.
Ron shrugged.
"Has she said anything. . .or even done anything that might explain whatever it is she's hiding?" Harry tried again.
Ron thought about it for a moment, and the memory of her scars resurfaced. His eyes went wide as he muttered, "Scars."
Harry's faced twisted with confusion. "Scars?"
Ron nodded, "Yeah, she has scars, all over her back, long thin puffy ones. She wouldn't tell me what happened, though."
"Why didn't you tell me, Ron? She's my best friend too, you know."
Ron's face went red, "Well, if she wouldn't tell me, I know she would really have not wanted you to know."
Harry looked at him, "What is that supposed to mean, Ron?"
Ron shrugged, "It means that, well, you turned your back when she needed you the most, and. . .real friends just don't do that to each other," he finished.
Harry looked abashed. Had that really been what he had been doing to her? He just let his mouth drop as he realized how much he must have hurt her.
Ron looked over at him apprehensively, "You're not. . .you're not going to, I don't know, hurt me or anything, are you?"
Harry didn't seem to hear him, "She must hate me."
Ron shook his head, "I don't think she hates you. I think she's just really hurt. She liked you for the longest time, and, well, you never really seemed to notice it. Just like I liked her for the longest time and she never noticed it. But I already know now that that isn't ever going to happen for me."
Harry glanced over to his friend, "Why's that?"
Ron turned red, "I kissed her."
Harry looked at him expectantly, "and?"
"And she turned me down. That's ok, though. Sure it sucks to no end, but I still have her, that's really all that matters." He told him.
Harry nodded, "But none of this really explains the scars, though, does it?"
Ron stood up, "We have to talk to her about it, Harry."
Harry sighed, "I know. Hey, where're you going?" he asked as Ron began walking out of the common room.
Ron turned around, "I'm going to talk to Hermione now, Harry. Are you coming or not?"
"I didn't know you knew where the prefect's bedroom was." He told him.
Ron smiled, "Of course I do, now come on."
Harry followed Ron down the hall. Ron stopped suddenly and Harry had to reach out and grab the wall to prevent himself from running into him.
"Why'd you stop?" he asked.
Ron looked at him blankly, "We're here."
"oh," came the response.
Ron pulled out his wand and poked the fifth brick from the floor with it, "Hello."
Harry looked at Ron as if he had grown three heads, "Err. . .hello."
Ron laughed, "No, Harry, it's the password."
"The password? Hermione's password is hello?" Harry asked skeptically.
Ron nodded, "See, watch."
And watch he did. The fifth brick from the floor rotated slightly, and the two boys heard a click. A door materialized in front of them.
Ron took a breath, "Well, here goes nothing," he muttered as he reached out and turned the handle.
~*~
Hermione was staring at the ceiling of her room when she heard the door open. Without turning from the ceiling, she called out, "Ron, what do you want?"
A voice called out in the darkness, "illuminate."
Every candle in her room sparked with flame. Hermione looked over to the doorway and saw Harry and Ron.
She glanced away, "What do you two want?"
Harry cleared his throat, "We needed to talk to you."
Ron nodded, "Yeah."
Hermione made no response.
Ron sat down on the bed and looked down at her, "What's the scars from, Hermione?"
It was the question she had been dreading. Harry sat down on the bed too, and by then, Hermione was beginning to feel incredibly crowded. She stood up and walked over to her bookshelf.
"Hermione. . ." Harry started.
Hermione whipped around, "What?!" she snapped, "What happened to my back is not you're business, its not anyone's business except for my own. Its between me and my fath. . ." she trailed off realizing her mistake.
Ron looked at her curiously, "Hermione. . . What does your father have anything to do with this?"
Hermione backed into a corner, unresponsive, unemotional, no trace of life within her. She was practically dead, only breathing and going through day- to-day routines without a thought. Her soul was practically gone.
Harry had a sudden realization, "Hermione, did your father give you those scars?"
Hermione's chin quivered a little and a single tear splashed down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly, but the two boys had already seen it.
They both stood and walked over to her.
"Mione. . ." Ron mumbled as he reached out to hold her.
Hermione ducked away and ran out of the room, leaving Harry and Ron stunned, frozen in their slippers.
~*~
Draco had been sitting in the Slytherin common room for quite awhile when he felt a hand brush along the arch of his ear. His body tensed up and his hair pricked up on end.
Suddenly a girl was in his lap kissing him and trying to undo his belt. Draco looked into the girl's face surprised. He grimaced when he saw who it was.
"Get off of me Pansy," he told the girl as he pushed her off of him.
"Don't you love me anymore, Draco? Don't you want to feel me under you again, Draco? Don't you want me to kiss you again, Draco?" Pansy asked as seductively as she could pull off.
Draco scowled and stood up, "I never loved you, you were always just an easy lay, and I sure as hell don't want you to kiss me again," he responded as he wiped off his mouth where she had kissed him a minute ago.
Pansy grabbed his arm as he was trying to leave the room, "what? Do you have yourself another girlfriend? Who could it be? Perhaps it's Blaise, or even that little Ravenclaw. . .what's her name again? Oh yes, Cho. Maybe its her. Do you like them more than you like me? Is that it? Do they feel better to you? Do you want them more than you ever wanted me?" she screamed with jealousy in her eyes.
Draco tried not to laugh in her face, "That's the thing you've never understood, Pansy! I've never wanted you! Did you ever once see me go to you to have sex? No, it was ALWAYS you. I just went along with it, but not anymore, Pansy. Not anymore."
Pansy's eyes glowed with jealousy, "Who is it then?" Pansy paused as something dawned on her, "Could it be. . .is it that little mudblood whore? That bitch? Of course it's her. I'm sure she isn't giving you special treatment, Draco, she's probably laid every guy in Gryffindor! That slut. No wonder Potter and Weasley are always excited to see her. She would probably do anyone, even her bloody father."
Draco slammed her against the wall.
Pansy licked her lips, "Oh, Draco, I just love it when you play rough."
Draco's face was red with anger and veins were bulging out of his neck, "Don't you ever, EVER speak about her that way again, Pansy. She isn't a whore, she isn't like that. Just because you are, doesn't mean everyone else in the world is. If you ever speak about her in front of me like that again, you will be sorry you ever met me."
Pansy face screwed up into a scowl and the jealousy returned in her eyes, "So it is her, then. Of course it is! I remember what happened in the Great Hall. YOU protected HER. YOU grabbed HER instead of ME. YOU put YOUR arm around HER waist. YOU held HER back. I tried to fight her and YOU held HER back. You've changed, Draco. The old you would have just watched the fight and smirked, congratulating me afterwards with a midnight rendezvous. You've turned into a complete pussy, Draco Malfoy."
Draco released her, "You know what, Pansy? You're absolutely correct. Completely, utterly, fantastically correct. And you know what? I don't give a fuck if you don't like it. Now get out of my face, bitch."
Pansy looked at him defiantly, "I'm not going anywhere."
Draco smirked, "Fine, I'll leave."
With that, he turned on his heel and left the room.
~*~
Hermione found herself wandering through the corridors aimlessly. She finally stopped when she found herself in a hall she vaguely recognized. She walked through it cautiously. At the end of the hall she stopped triumphantly.
She had found the piano room again. She walked in silently and sat herself on the stool, letting her fingertips brush against the keys lightly. She closed her eyes as she began playing, the melodic tune drifting throughout the room.
The tune turned darker as she thought about the scars and who had put them there. The sound vibrated through the room like thunder. She began to play a song she had learned once that she had forgotten the name of. It had been something like the raindrop melody.
The beginning started off silently, softly reverberating throughout the room, it got more dramatic and as she reached the crescendo where the thunder rolled harmoniously, tears flew to her eyes and ran down her face. She kept playing though, her tears splashing against the keys like actual raindrops.
When the crescendo ended, she went back to the lighter, higher pitched keys, as if the rain was drizzling away, as if the storm had passed through.
She sat in front of the piano and wept. The tears came uncontrollably. She had stopped playing and her face was in her hands, her shoulders shaking violently. She couldn't stop herself. She couldn't fight the tears that kept coming. They splashed down her cheeks, down her arms, onto her robes, onto the piano. She felt so alone in the world, so in the dark.
A voice appeared in the darkness, "Lumos."
Hermione turned on the stool and looked into the doorway. She watched as the figure pointed it's wand at her, spreading the light that emanated from it. . .from the figure. The figure that stood in the open doorway.
~*~
Draco Malfoy stood staring at the girl in front of him, bathed in the light of his wand, and he realized that he had never seen anything quite so beautiful in his life. He walked over to the girl and sat next to her.
"Hermione. . ."
~*~
A/N: ok, how bad did it suck? Meh, oh well.
~*~
Thank you's
~*~
Amanda: lol, why it reminds you of matt, candise, and I. . .I have no idea. Whatever you say there, manaize, lol.
Katie Crickett: hehe, strangeness. . .anyhoo, everyone should go check her out, cuz her stories are good. I promise.
DracoNmione: I wrote you an email about your review, I hope you got it. The review was helpful, but could you elaborate on what you did or didn't like, please?
Cowgirlkk12: thank you. Well, im writing again, lol.
Draco's one and only: does she know she has draco??? Hmmm. Not yet. . .hehehehe.
lost-wanderer: ok, Mr. "Lets make fun of the writer". Hehe, I'm just kidding zac, you know I love ya.
Hotvollyballgrl: thank ya betsy! Hehe.
Midnight-Primrose Riddle: Aww, this girl makes me so happy about my story, lol, she's always really nice and hyper to me in her reviews, hehe.
Me. . .: hmm, who is this me? *grins* don't worry, the draco and mione scenes will be here before you know it.
~*~
A/N: I'm not sure how this chapter is going to turn out, so bear with me, please. I swear (I hope) next chapter will be a lot smoother.
~*~
Chapter 10
~*~
Harry could not dislodge the confrontation with Hermione earlier that day from his mind. He remembered the look on her face, the one of pure horror, and how she had suddenly just wiped the look from her face, becoming unreadable, much like a certain ferret he knew.
'What was going on with her?' he wondered. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't think of anything that could be the matter with her, except for himself, of course. He sighed and reached down to the floor by his bed and picked up one of his shoes.
It hit his target perfectly in the back of the head. A once snoring Ron woke up quickly, startled by the hard clunk on his head. Harry snickered.
"What'd ya do that for, Harry?" he asked while rubbing the small lump that was beginning to surface under his hair.
"Sorry about that, Ron. I couldn't sleep. Had to talk to you," Harry explained rather dully.
Ron grimaced, "you could have just. . .you know, shook me awake. But no, you had to throw a bloody shoe at my head."
Harry chuckled a little, but then his face turned serious, "Can we go down to the common room?" he asked.
Ron scowled, "Can't we just talk about whatever it is in the morning? I'm tired."
Harry got to his feet and dragged Ron out of his bed, "Come on lazy, I really need to talk to you."
Ron landed on the floor by his bed with a thump. He stood up rubbing his bum and nodded silently.
The two walked down to the common room as quietly as possible. Once down there, Harry began speaking.
"Ok, do you have any idea about what's going on with Hermione?" he inquired.
Ron shrugged.
"Has she said anything. . .or even done anything that might explain whatever it is she's hiding?" Harry tried again.
Ron thought about it for a moment, and the memory of her scars resurfaced. His eyes went wide as he muttered, "Scars."
Harry's faced twisted with confusion. "Scars?"
Ron nodded, "Yeah, she has scars, all over her back, long thin puffy ones. She wouldn't tell me what happened, though."
"Why didn't you tell me, Ron? She's my best friend too, you know."
Ron's face went red, "Well, if she wouldn't tell me, I know she would really have not wanted you to know."
Harry looked at him, "What is that supposed to mean, Ron?"
Ron shrugged, "It means that, well, you turned your back when she needed you the most, and. . .real friends just don't do that to each other," he finished.
Harry looked abashed. Had that really been what he had been doing to her? He just let his mouth drop as he realized how much he must have hurt her.
Ron looked over at him apprehensively, "You're not. . .you're not going to, I don't know, hurt me or anything, are you?"
Harry didn't seem to hear him, "She must hate me."
Ron shook his head, "I don't think she hates you. I think she's just really hurt. She liked you for the longest time, and, well, you never really seemed to notice it. Just like I liked her for the longest time and she never noticed it. But I already know now that that isn't ever going to happen for me."
Harry glanced over to his friend, "Why's that?"
Ron turned red, "I kissed her."
Harry looked at him expectantly, "and?"
"And she turned me down. That's ok, though. Sure it sucks to no end, but I still have her, that's really all that matters." He told him.
Harry nodded, "But none of this really explains the scars, though, does it?"
Ron stood up, "We have to talk to her about it, Harry."
Harry sighed, "I know. Hey, where're you going?" he asked as Ron began walking out of the common room.
Ron turned around, "I'm going to talk to Hermione now, Harry. Are you coming or not?"
"I didn't know you knew where the prefect's bedroom was." He told him.
Ron smiled, "Of course I do, now come on."
Harry followed Ron down the hall. Ron stopped suddenly and Harry had to reach out and grab the wall to prevent himself from running into him.
"Why'd you stop?" he asked.
Ron looked at him blankly, "We're here."
"oh," came the response.
Ron pulled out his wand and poked the fifth brick from the floor with it, "Hello."
Harry looked at Ron as if he had grown three heads, "Err. . .hello."
Ron laughed, "No, Harry, it's the password."
"The password? Hermione's password is hello?" Harry asked skeptically.
Ron nodded, "See, watch."
And watch he did. The fifth brick from the floor rotated slightly, and the two boys heard a click. A door materialized in front of them.
Ron took a breath, "Well, here goes nothing," he muttered as he reached out and turned the handle.
~*~
Hermione was staring at the ceiling of her room when she heard the door open. Without turning from the ceiling, she called out, "Ron, what do you want?"
A voice called out in the darkness, "illuminate."
Every candle in her room sparked with flame. Hermione looked over to the doorway and saw Harry and Ron.
She glanced away, "What do you two want?"
Harry cleared his throat, "We needed to talk to you."
Ron nodded, "Yeah."
Hermione made no response.
Ron sat down on the bed and looked down at her, "What's the scars from, Hermione?"
It was the question she had been dreading. Harry sat down on the bed too, and by then, Hermione was beginning to feel incredibly crowded. She stood up and walked over to her bookshelf.
"Hermione. . ." Harry started.
Hermione whipped around, "What?!" she snapped, "What happened to my back is not you're business, its not anyone's business except for my own. Its between me and my fath. . ." she trailed off realizing her mistake.
Ron looked at her curiously, "Hermione. . . What does your father have anything to do with this?"
Hermione backed into a corner, unresponsive, unemotional, no trace of life within her. She was practically dead, only breathing and going through day- to-day routines without a thought. Her soul was practically gone.
Harry had a sudden realization, "Hermione, did your father give you those scars?"
Hermione's chin quivered a little and a single tear splashed down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly, but the two boys had already seen it.
They both stood and walked over to her.
"Mione. . ." Ron mumbled as he reached out to hold her.
Hermione ducked away and ran out of the room, leaving Harry and Ron stunned, frozen in their slippers.
~*~
Draco had been sitting in the Slytherin common room for quite awhile when he felt a hand brush along the arch of his ear. His body tensed up and his hair pricked up on end.
Suddenly a girl was in his lap kissing him and trying to undo his belt. Draco looked into the girl's face surprised. He grimaced when he saw who it was.
"Get off of me Pansy," he told the girl as he pushed her off of him.
"Don't you love me anymore, Draco? Don't you want to feel me under you again, Draco? Don't you want me to kiss you again, Draco?" Pansy asked as seductively as she could pull off.
Draco scowled and stood up, "I never loved you, you were always just an easy lay, and I sure as hell don't want you to kiss me again," he responded as he wiped off his mouth where she had kissed him a minute ago.
Pansy grabbed his arm as he was trying to leave the room, "what? Do you have yourself another girlfriend? Who could it be? Perhaps it's Blaise, or even that little Ravenclaw. . .what's her name again? Oh yes, Cho. Maybe its her. Do you like them more than you like me? Is that it? Do they feel better to you? Do you want them more than you ever wanted me?" she screamed with jealousy in her eyes.
Draco tried not to laugh in her face, "That's the thing you've never understood, Pansy! I've never wanted you! Did you ever once see me go to you to have sex? No, it was ALWAYS you. I just went along with it, but not anymore, Pansy. Not anymore."
Pansy's eyes glowed with jealousy, "Who is it then?" Pansy paused as something dawned on her, "Could it be. . .is it that little mudblood whore? That bitch? Of course it's her. I'm sure she isn't giving you special treatment, Draco, she's probably laid every guy in Gryffindor! That slut. No wonder Potter and Weasley are always excited to see her. She would probably do anyone, even her bloody father."
Draco slammed her against the wall.
Pansy licked her lips, "Oh, Draco, I just love it when you play rough."
Draco's face was red with anger and veins were bulging out of his neck, "Don't you ever, EVER speak about her that way again, Pansy. She isn't a whore, she isn't like that. Just because you are, doesn't mean everyone else in the world is. If you ever speak about her in front of me like that again, you will be sorry you ever met me."
Pansy face screwed up into a scowl and the jealousy returned in her eyes, "So it is her, then. Of course it is! I remember what happened in the Great Hall. YOU protected HER. YOU grabbed HER instead of ME. YOU put YOUR arm around HER waist. YOU held HER back. I tried to fight her and YOU held HER back. You've changed, Draco. The old you would have just watched the fight and smirked, congratulating me afterwards with a midnight rendezvous. You've turned into a complete pussy, Draco Malfoy."
Draco released her, "You know what, Pansy? You're absolutely correct. Completely, utterly, fantastically correct. And you know what? I don't give a fuck if you don't like it. Now get out of my face, bitch."
Pansy looked at him defiantly, "I'm not going anywhere."
Draco smirked, "Fine, I'll leave."
With that, he turned on his heel and left the room.
~*~
Hermione found herself wandering through the corridors aimlessly. She finally stopped when she found herself in a hall she vaguely recognized. She walked through it cautiously. At the end of the hall she stopped triumphantly.
She had found the piano room again. She walked in silently and sat herself on the stool, letting her fingertips brush against the keys lightly. She closed her eyes as she began playing, the melodic tune drifting throughout the room.
The tune turned darker as she thought about the scars and who had put them there. The sound vibrated through the room like thunder. She began to play a song she had learned once that she had forgotten the name of. It had been something like the raindrop melody.
The beginning started off silently, softly reverberating throughout the room, it got more dramatic and as she reached the crescendo where the thunder rolled harmoniously, tears flew to her eyes and ran down her face. She kept playing though, her tears splashing against the keys like actual raindrops.
When the crescendo ended, she went back to the lighter, higher pitched keys, as if the rain was drizzling away, as if the storm had passed through.
She sat in front of the piano and wept. The tears came uncontrollably. She had stopped playing and her face was in her hands, her shoulders shaking violently. She couldn't stop herself. She couldn't fight the tears that kept coming. They splashed down her cheeks, down her arms, onto her robes, onto the piano. She felt so alone in the world, so in the dark.
A voice appeared in the darkness, "Lumos."
Hermione turned on the stool and looked into the doorway. She watched as the figure pointed it's wand at her, spreading the light that emanated from it. . .from the figure. The figure that stood in the open doorway.
~*~
Draco Malfoy stood staring at the girl in front of him, bathed in the light of his wand, and he realized that he had never seen anything quite so beautiful in his life. He walked over to the girl and sat next to her.
"Hermione. . ."
~*~
A/N: ok, how bad did it suck? Meh, oh well.