Chapter 6
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the story.
Hermione covered her ears as Harry yelled at her with complete rage, trying to shut out his voice that vibrated through her mind. Two weeks had barely passed since their first fight and now they were in Hermione's room, arguing again about. who else? Draco Malfoy, of course.
Harry was supposed to pick Hermione up from her last class, which was Ancient Runes. But Hermione had skipped that class because McGonagall had called for all the prefects and the head boy and girl for an unannounced, sudden meeting in the prefects office. She wasn't able to tell him and had forgotten all about it. She and Draco were walking down the hall towards the hallway when Harry found her and told her that he's going to take her to her room, leaving Malfoy alone. And before Hermione knew it, Harry was yelling at her about how she could be walking with Malfoy alone when she knew that he was in fact a Malfoy and that he could hurt her. She tried reasoning to him that they (Hermione and Draco) were just walking down the hall after the meeting and that she was sorry that she forgot to tell him. But Harry would hear none of it.
"How could you just be friends with him?! I don't understand, Hermione! He used to hurt you. How can you be so sure he won't hurt you this time?" Harry said.
"I thought we already talked about this? I told you, he's changed and--."
"How would you know that? Just because you've become friends with him for some time that doesn't mean that you truly know him already!"
"Harry! Why are you so angry? It's just Draco!"
"I hate it when you call him Draco!"
"What do you want me to call him, Harry?" Hermione asked, her voice softening. She was tired of shouting. Besides, it wasn't getting them anywhere.
"I don't want you to call him anything," Harry replied, his voice softening a bit as well. "In fact, I don't want you talking to him anymore."
Hermione stared at him. Did I just hear him right? Did he just tell me-no, order me, not to talk to Draco anymore? I can't believe this is happening. "Did you hear what I said?" he asked, his voice low.
"Yes," she replied. She looked at him straight in the eye. "But I won't do it. Draco's my friend now. And nothing you do or say can change that." Hermione stood up and opened her bedroom door. "I think this conversation is over."
Harry sighed angrily and left the door, slamming the door behind him. Hermione rested her back on the door and slowly slid down until she was already seated on the floor. She closed her eyes and tried to hold back the tears that had been threatening to pour out ever since the start of the disagreement. She just didn't understand. Two weeks ago, Harry just told her that they'd never fight again. That he was sorry for yelling and now. well, that hasn't exactly happened. He just looked so. so. angry. And that scared Hermione. She wasn't sure what's happening with them. It's not fair. Things were going so well. They were happy and now. The tears that have wanted to come out finally trickled down her cheeks.
There was a soft knock on her door and it slowly opened. "Hermione?" Padma said. "Are you okay?" Hermione didn't answer but Padma went in anyway. She sat down beside her and put an arm around her and shushed her. She had heard everything that they had fought about even though she tried not to hear. She decided she wouldn't meddle in other people's businesses. But being Hermione's roommate, she just couldn't ignore the fact that Hermione was hurting. "Ssh! It's okay. It's okay." Hermione wanted to believe what Padma was telling her. But she knew that everything's not okay.
Hermione was lying down on her bed, trying to soak up the morning rays. It was Saturday, which meant that she could oversleep and not face the whole school with questions as to what happened with her and Harry. She knew that by now, even though it was only 8:30, everyone would have learned of what happened. She closed her eyes tightly. Fighting with Harry just hurt her so much. It was so harsh and so painful. She opened her eyes again when she realized that she wasn't alone in her room. She sat up and looked at the redheaded guy who was seated on the chair across her bed.
"Good morning, Hermione!" Ron said with a small grin.
"What are you doing here, Ron?" she asked. Though it was more like a statement than a question.
"I heard about what happened and well. I wanted to know how you're doing," he said.
Hermione lay back down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. "How do you think I'm feeling?" she mumbled.
Ron stood up and sat on her bed, beside her. "I know," he said.
"How can you know? You weren't there. It was so awful and Harry. he." she trailed away and took a deep breath, trying to fight back the tears that were creeping back in her eyes. "I was so scared, Ron. I thought that he was going to hit me or something."
"Harry would never hit you," Ron said immediately.
"But you weren't there. He looked so angry and filled up with rage," she said and burst crying. Ron wrapped both his arms around her and let her cry on him while consoling her. "I'm so scared, Ron. I don't know what's happening to us. Why are we fighting this way? This has never happened to us before. Why is he so mad at Draco?"
"Well, you have to understand. It's not so easy getting used to the fact that you're friends with the person who tried to torment you every single time in the past years," Ron said. "Harry just wants you to be safe, Hermione. He only wants what's best for you and he's afraid to lose you."
Hermione cried for a while longer and then she decided that that was enough crying for one day. She sat up, wiped her tears from her face and looked at Ron. "Thanks, Ron," she said and leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "And I'm really sorry for all of this. I know it's hard getting in the middle of two best friends fighting."
"It's okay," Ron said. "So are you going to talk to him?"
Hermione didn't answer his question. "Aw, come on, Hermione. Harry is truly sorry. Everyone's just devastated about what happened with both of you because, as you know, you guys are the perfect couple."
"Maybe I'll talk to him. I don't know. Let's just see what happens."
** Draco had wanted to see Hermione ever since he heard that she and Harry fought again. It wasn't that he was happy or anything. But he did want to see how she was doing and how she was feeling. He knew that she must be in pain again. That Potty hasn't given her anything lately but pain. If he continues doing this I could just kill him. He knew that he couldn't kill Potter because Hermione would be wholly distraught. She loves him, after all. But he just couldn't understand why he kept making her cry. She deserves nothing but happiness. Seeing her cry, seeing the once so dazzling eyes lose their shine makes him sad.
He sighed. He was in the prefects' office, hoping that she would stop by or something. He hasn't seen her since that day that she and Harry got back together after their first fight and that had been centuries ago. Okay. Maybe not centuries. But it was certainly days ago. They saw each other during the prefect meetings and when they were on duty but when they're doing their jobs, they both concentrated on that and after that Potter would suddenly appear from nowhere and take her away, leaving them no time to even just say a word to each other. Concentrate on other things! He opened his history of magic textbook and willed himself to focus his attention on reading the chapter that professor Binns assigned to them. After a few seconds, he slammed the book shut with a loud thud that echoed across the room.
"This is stupid!" Draco said to no one in particular. "Where is she?"
At that moment, the door opened and Hermione walked in, carrying some books on her left hand and a bagel on the right. She looked up when she realized that someone was in the room. Her startled expression disappeared and changed into a smile.
"Hey!" she said, setting her books and her bagel, on a tissue, down.
"Hey," he said. "I haven't seen you in a while."
"I know," she said. "I've been so busy lately with all the work that has been given in class and being prefect and-."
"I heard you and Harry fought again," he said, studying her face for any reaction. "What happened?"
"Oh, you know Harry. He was just probably stressed about the upcoming Quidditch match that he just suddenly burst into anger," she said hastily. She sat down on one of the chairs, propped open one of the books that she was reading and took a bite out of her bagel.
"So why are you here at this time of the day? Aren't you supposed to be out there somewhere with him?" he asked. He knew that tone of his voice wasn't proper. But that's the way it's going to be.
Hermione was a bit taken a back at Draco's rather unpleasant tone of voice. But she answered his question. "Well. I'm sort of not really talking to him at the moment."
"If it was just a small thing like being stressed from the match then you're supposed to be there with him, calming him or something, right? Or is that not the real reason why you fought?" he said. "Tell me, Hermione. What did you two fight about?"
"I told you. He was just stressed about the upcoming match and he yelled at me, okay? Why is that so hard for you to understand? And I'm not talking to him because I don't like being yelled at. It makes me feel frightened and hated and unwanted," she said. She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. Draco stood up, sat beside her and hugged her.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to anger you. I just wanted you to let it all out because that's the only way you can rise up again and move on from what had happened."
"I'm sorry, too, Draco," she said, her face buried on his chest. "I didn't mean to get angry at you. I was just frustrated, I guess. Everyone's been asking me about what happened with us for the past few days and I just couldn't take it anymore. It's just so hard when everyone's watching everything that happens to you."
"I know, I know," he said. "I understand." Believe me. He smirked for a moment.
"You do?" she asked, looking up at him. "How?"
"Well, how do you think being a Malfoy feels like? Every time something related to the dark arts or to the dark lord comes up in the daily prophet, our name always comes up and then people look at me as if I had something to do with it, which I tell you I hadn't," he said. "It's like we're not given room to change or rather, I'm not being given the room to change because I know my father will never amend himself of his present ways. I just wish, you know, that people would stop judging me and try to get to know me better so that they'll know the real me. That I'm not really mean, or a jerk or a git or whatever bad things people call me."
Hermione pulled him close and hugged him this time. "I know you're not really mean or a jerk or even a git. I know you're really nice and sweet and loving deep inside. And you know that, too. So there's nothing you should be worried about because you know the truth and that's all that matters," she said softly.
Draco held her close for a few more minutes, savoring every second. He closed his eyes and just felt how it was to hold Hermione like this. He knew it wouldn't be very often that he would be able to do this so he tried to memorize every bit about it. He tried to memorize how Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, how her hair feels like on his cheek, how she seemed to fit inside his arms, how she smelled faintly of vanilla and strawberries, how she seemed to warm and comfort him to the very deepest of his soul.
"Draco?" she said, interrupting his thoughts. He opened his eyes and saw that Hermione was looking at him, her face only inches from his, her eyes studying him and torn from confusion and amusement. "Are you okay?" she asked.
He smiled slightly at her. "I'm fine," he said softly, gazing into her deep brown eyes that seemed to penetrate deep into his very core. He had never met a girl, or anyone for that matter, who was able to make him feel this way. He just wanted to hold her close, to be with her and to make her happy. He looked briefly at her lips. Maybe if I kissed her, I could make her feel how much she means to me, how much I love her. He looked at her lips and this time, he really gazed at it. The perfect shape, and the softness and reddish-pinkish hue of her lips seemed to be calling to him, to move closer, to press his lips against it.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the story.
Hermione covered her ears as Harry yelled at her with complete rage, trying to shut out his voice that vibrated through her mind. Two weeks had barely passed since their first fight and now they were in Hermione's room, arguing again about. who else? Draco Malfoy, of course.
Harry was supposed to pick Hermione up from her last class, which was Ancient Runes. But Hermione had skipped that class because McGonagall had called for all the prefects and the head boy and girl for an unannounced, sudden meeting in the prefects office. She wasn't able to tell him and had forgotten all about it. She and Draco were walking down the hall towards the hallway when Harry found her and told her that he's going to take her to her room, leaving Malfoy alone. And before Hermione knew it, Harry was yelling at her about how she could be walking with Malfoy alone when she knew that he was in fact a Malfoy and that he could hurt her. She tried reasoning to him that they (Hermione and Draco) were just walking down the hall after the meeting and that she was sorry that she forgot to tell him. But Harry would hear none of it.
"How could you just be friends with him?! I don't understand, Hermione! He used to hurt you. How can you be so sure he won't hurt you this time?" Harry said.
"I thought we already talked about this? I told you, he's changed and--."
"How would you know that? Just because you've become friends with him for some time that doesn't mean that you truly know him already!"
"Harry! Why are you so angry? It's just Draco!"
"I hate it when you call him Draco!"
"What do you want me to call him, Harry?" Hermione asked, her voice softening. She was tired of shouting. Besides, it wasn't getting them anywhere.
"I don't want you to call him anything," Harry replied, his voice softening a bit as well. "In fact, I don't want you talking to him anymore."
Hermione stared at him. Did I just hear him right? Did he just tell me-no, order me, not to talk to Draco anymore? I can't believe this is happening. "Did you hear what I said?" he asked, his voice low.
"Yes," she replied. She looked at him straight in the eye. "But I won't do it. Draco's my friend now. And nothing you do or say can change that." Hermione stood up and opened her bedroom door. "I think this conversation is over."
Harry sighed angrily and left the door, slamming the door behind him. Hermione rested her back on the door and slowly slid down until she was already seated on the floor. She closed her eyes and tried to hold back the tears that had been threatening to pour out ever since the start of the disagreement. She just didn't understand. Two weeks ago, Harry just told her that they'd never fight again. That he was sorry for yelling and now. well, that hasn't exactly happened. He just looked so. so. angry. And that scared Hermione. She wasn't sure what's happening with them. It's not fair. Things were going so well. They were happy and now. The tears that have wanted to come out finally trickled down her cheeks.
There was a soft knock on her door and it slowly opened. "Hermione?" Padma said. "Are you okay?" Hermione didn't answer but Padma went in anyway. She sat down beside her and put an arm around her and shushed her. She had heard everything that they had fought about even though she tried not to hear. She decided she wouldn't meddle in other people's businesses. But being Hermione's roommate, she just couldn't ignore the fact that Hermione was hurting. "Ssh! It's okay. It's okay." Hermione wanted to believe what Padma was telling her. But she knew that everything's not okay.
Hermione was lying down on her bed, trying to soak up the morning rays. It was Saturday, which meant that she could oversleep and not face the whole school with questions as to what happened with her and Harry. She knew that by now, even though it was only 8:30, everyone would have learned of what happened. She closed her eyes tightly. Fighting with Harry just hurt her so much. It was so harsh and so painful. She opened her eyes again when she realized that she wasn't alone in her room. She sat up and looked at the redheaded guy who was seated on the chair across her bed.
"Good morning, Hermione!" Ron said with a small grin.
"What are you doing here, Ron?" she asked. Though it was more like a statement than a question.
"I heard about what happened and well. I wanted to know how you're doing," he said.
Hermione lay back down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. "How do you think I'm feeling?" she mumbled.
Ron stood up and sat on her bed, beside her. "I know," he said.
"How can you know? You weren't there. It was so awful and Harry. he." she trailed away and took a deep breath, trying to fight back the tears that were creeping back in her eyes. "I was so scared, Ron. I thought that he was going to hit me or something."
"Harry would never hit you," Ron said immediately.
"But you weren't there. He looked so angry and filled up with rage," she said and burst crying. Ron wrapped both his arms around her and let her cry on him while consoling her. "I'm so scared, Ron. I don't know what's happening to us. Why are we fighting this way? This has never happened to us before. Why is he so mad at Draco?"
"Well, you have to understand. It's not so easy getting used to the fact that you're friends with the person who tried to torment you every single time in the past years," Ron said. "Harry just wants you to be safe, Hermione. He only wants what's best for you and he's afraid to lose you."
Hermione cried for a while longer and then she decided that that was enough crying for one day. She sat up, wiped her tears from her face and looked at Ron. "Thanks, Ron," she said and leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "And I'm really sorry for all of this. I know it's hard getting in the middle of two best friends fighting."
"It's okay," Ron said. "So are you going to talk to him?"
Hermione didn't answer his question. "Aw, come on, Hermione. Harry is truly sorry. Everyone's just devastated about what happened with both of you because, as you know, you guys are the perfect couple."
"Maybe I'll talk to him. I don't know. Let's just see what happens."
** Draco had wanted to see Hermione ever since he heard that she and Harry fought again. It wasn't that he was happy or anything. But he did want to see how she was doing and how she was feeling. He knew that she must be in pain again. That Potty hasn't given her anything lately but pain. If he continues doing this I could just kill him. He knew that he couldn't kill Potter because Hermione would be wholly distraught. She loves him, after all. But he just couldn't understand why he kept making her cry. She deserves nothing but happiness. Seeing her cry, seeing the once so dazzling eyes lose their shine makes him sad.
He sighed. He was in the prefects' office, hoping that she would stop by or something. He hasn't seen her since that day that she and Harry got back together after their first fight and that had been centuries ago. Okay. Maybe not centuries. But it was certainly days ago. They saw each other during the prefect meetings and when they were on duty but when they're doing their jobs, they both concentrated on that and after that Potter would suddenly appear from nowhere and take her away, leaving them no time to even just say a word to each other. Concentrate on other things! He opened his history of magic textbook and willed himself to focus his attention on reading the chapter that professor Binns assigned to them. After a few seconds, he slammed the book shut with a loud thud that echoed across the room.
"This is stupid!" Draco said to no one in particular. "Where is she?"
At that moment, the door opened and Hermione walked in, carrying some books on her left hand and a bagel on the right. She looked up when she realized that someone was in the room. Her startled expression disappeared and changed into a smile.
"Hey!" she said, setting her books and her bagel, on a tissue, down.
"Hey," he said. "I haven't seen you in a while."
"I know," she said. "I've been so busy lately with all the work that has been given in class and being prefect and-."
"I heard you and Harry fought again," he said, studying her face for any reaction. "What happened?"
"Oh, you know Harry. He was just probably stressed about the upcoming Quidditch match that he just suddenly burst into anger," she said hastily. She sat down on one of the chairs, propped open one of the books that she was reading and took a bite out of her bagel.
"So why are you here at this time of the day? Aren't you supposed to be out there somewhere with him?" he asked. He knew that tone of his voice wasn't proper. But that's the way it's going to be.
Hermione was a bit taken a back at Draco's rather unpleasant tone of voice. But she answered his question. "Well. I'm sort of not really talking to him at the moment."
"If it was just a small thing like being stressed from the match then you're supposed to be there with him, calming him or something, right? Or is that not the real reason why you fought?" he said. "Tell me, Hermione. What did you two fight about?"
"I told you. He was just stressed about the upcoming match and he yelled at me, okay? Why is that so hard for you to understand? And I'm not talking to him because I don't like being yelled at. It makes me feel frightened and hated and unwanted," she said. She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. Draco stood up, sat beside her and hugged her.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to anger you. I just wanted you to let it all out because that's the only way you can rise up again and move on from what had happened."
"I'm sorry, too, Draco," she said, her face buried on his chest. "I didn't mean to get angry at you. I was just frustrated, I guess. Everyone's been asking me about what happened with us for the past few days and I just couldn't take it anymore. It's just so hard when everyone's watching everything that happens to you."
"I know, I know," he said. "I understand." Believe me. He smirked for a moment.
"You do?" she asked, looking up at him. "How?"
"Well, how do you think being a Malfoy feels like? Every time something related to the dark arts or to the dark lord comes up in the daily prophet, our name always comes up and then people look at me as if I had something to do with it, which I tell you I hadn't," he said. "It's like we're not given room to change or rather, I'm not being given the room to change because I know my father will never amend himself of his present ways. I just wish, you know, that people would stop judging me and try to get to know me better so that they'll know the real me. That I'm not really mean, or a jerk or a git or whatever bad things people call me."
Hermione pulled him close and hugged him this time. "I know you're not really mean or a jerk or even a git. I know you're really nice and sweet and loving deep inside. And you know that, too. So there's nothing you should be worried about because you know the truth and that's all that matters," she said softly.
Draco held her close for a few more minutes, savoring every second. He closed his eyes and just felt how it was to hold Hermione like this. He knew it wouldn't be very often that he would be able to do this so he tried to memorize every bit about it. He tried to memorize how Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, how her hair feels like on his cheek, how she seemed to fit inside his arms, how she smelled faintly of vanilla and strawberries, how she seemed to warm and comfort him to the very deepest of his soul.
"Draco?" she said, interrupting his thoughts. He opened his eyes and saw that Hermione was looking at him, her face only inches from his, her eyes studying him and torn from confusion and amusement. "Are you okay?" she asked.
He smiled slightly at her. "I'm fine," he said softly, gazing into her deep brown eyes that seemed to penetrate deep into his very core. He had never met a girl, or anyone for that matter, who was able to make him feel this way. He just wanted to hold her close, to be with her and to make her happy. He looked briefly at her lips. Maybe if I kissed her, I could make her feel how much she means to me, how much I love her. He looked at her lips and this time, he really gazed at it. The perfect shape, and the softness and reddish-pinkish hue of her lips seemed to be calling to him, to move closer, to press his lips against it.