Chapter 8
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the story.
Hermione slowly opened her eyes. It was a new day. She smiled and stretched her arms, but as she did, she felt pain on her left arm. She sat up and examined it. There were black marks all over her arm. The marks of Harry's fingers were all over it. She sighed, got out of bed and got ready for the prefect meeting.
She went to the office, slowly opening the door and peeking inside to make sure that no one was there yet. She went inside, put her bag on the table, and curled up on the couch. Harry hurt her. Harry had hurt her. She sighed. She closed her eyes and tried to forget last night's events. She tried to reason with herself that he was drunk and that he didn't know what he was doing. He wasn't in his proper mind. So she couldn't blame him for what he did.
Couldn't blame him? Are you serious? He just hurt you. He physically hurt you. He looked like he knew what he was doing last night.
No, no. Harry would never hurt me. He told me so before.
Yeah. But he told you that he wouldn't yell at you again. But he did.
Hermione closed her eyes shut, trying to stop herself from crying. "But he didn't mean that!" she said out loud, not able to help herself anymore. "It was an accident."
"Talking to yourself is not a good thing, Hermione. People would think that you're going mental," Draco said, entering the room.
Hermione sat up on the couch and looked at him. She didn't hear anyone enter or even the door open. She turned red. "I. I was just think of something," she explained. "You're early," she continued, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah," he said. "I figured to go here since I was already up. By the way, congratulations on the Quidditch match."
Hermione smiled. "Thanks!" she said. "It was well deserved, wasn't it?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "Besides, Ravenclaw never stood a chance against Gryffindors. So I assume you guys partied all night."
Her smile slowly disappeared from her face as the night before's events flashed back to her mind. Draco noticed this. "What's wrong?" he asked.
She smiled at him and stood up. "Nothing," she said. "Where are the others? What's taking them so long?"
Draco also stood up and followed her by the table. "I expect they'll be arriving soon. Don't try changing the subject, Hermione. What happened last night?"
"Nothing, Draco."
"Then why are you avoiding the topic?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered almost to herself.
"Did you and Harry fight again?" he asked carefully, trying to catch her eyes.
Hermione looked at him. But just then, Padma and Marlon entered followed by professor McGonagall. She looked away and sat down. Draco sat down as well as they all went through the motions of the meeting. Finally, McGonagall came to the end of the meeting and asked a favor from them. She brought out a thick wad of parchments. "These are some of the essays done by second years. I want you guys to proofread them for me. I would do it myself but I have a lot of other things to attend to. Can I expect this from you four?"
The four prefects nodded. Before long, McGonagall had left, leaving them with the really thick pile of second year essays. The four of them sat down in front of each other on the desk and stared at it for a while.
"I think we should divide the pile to the four of us," Hermione said, breaking the silence. "That way we can do it much faster."
The other three agreed. They divided the pile against them and began proofreading. It was an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of transforming animals into water goblets.
"Is this the most stupid topic for an essay or what?" Draco said out loud, echoing the other three's thoughts.
Padma laughed. "Maybe McGonagall lost all sense of meaning of a good topic and just assigned this," she said. "Honestly. Ferraverto!" She laughed.
Marlon chuckled at this, glanced at Hermione and noticed that she was staring off into space. He reached out to her and held her arm gently. "Hermione, are you okay?" he asked.
Hermione flinched at his touch. He was holding on to her left arm, the arm where Harry's black finger marks were all over. Draco saw this. Marlon let go at once. "I'm sorry," Marlon said. "Did I hurt you?"
Hermione's eyes widened at this. "No. No!" she said. "I was just surprised. I wasn't listening."
Draco's eyes narrowed into slits. He knew that Hermione wasn't telling the truth. Marlon smiled warmly at Hermione. "Congratulations, by the way on your win over Gryffindor!" he said, glancing knowingly at Padma, who glared at him.
"Don't rub it in, Marlon. I know we lost okay," Padma said. "But I think Gryffindor deserved to win. Harry was so focused. I wonder how he focuses himself that well."
"Maybe because he was trying to impress his girl over here," Marlon said, smiling at Hermione again.
Hermione smiled weakly. Draco stood up and walked towards her. He leaned over and pretended to ask some help for the essay that he had on hand and casually squeezed Hermione's left arm. She screamed in pain. Marlon and Padma went over to her to see if she was fine.
"I'm sorry," Draco said, truly meaning it and feeling bad that he had done it. But he had to. He wanted to know if his suspicions were correct. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Hermione said, wiping her tears away. "I'm fine. You just squeezed too hard, Draco."
"Let's see it," Padma said and reached out to put her sleeve up.
"No!" Hermione said. But it was too late. They saw her arm with black marks all over it. Padma gasped and looked at Draco.
"But Draco couldn't have done that," Marlon said. "He just touched her and the marks wouldn't become visible that fast even if he did hurt her." He looked at Hermione curiously. "Where did this happen, Hermione?"
"Or rather, who did it?" Draco said.
Hermione rolled her eyes at them and pretended not to care about the bruise. She rolled her robe sleeve back down and went on reading the essay. "It's just a bruise I got from bumping into the wall one time. It's no big deal."
"But those looked like finger marks," Padma said, voicing her observation.
Hermione cringed. Why did Padma have to be so observant? "What are you talking about, Padma, that wasn't a--."
"Who did this, Hermione?" Draco asked, cutting her off.
Hermione looked at him, then at Padma, then at Marlon. The three of them wore questioning looks on their faces. "I told you guys, it's nothing," she said. Marlon shrugged and said, "I'm going down to breakfast. Anyone care to join me?"
"I'll join you," Padma said and left the room with him.
Hermione also began to gather her things and walked towards the door when Draco stood in front of her, blocking her way. "Draco, what are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm not going to let you leave until you tell me what really happened with your arm," he said. "I know the wall couldn't have done that. Besides, I know you're not that stupid as to let a wall hit you, Hermione."
She looked down and broke his gaze. "I'm telling you, Draco. It's not a big deal," she said meekly. "It's just a bruise."
"It's not just a bruise, Hermione," he said. "It's hurting you. Who did this?"
Hermione only shook her head. Draco took a deep breath and decided to take the plunge. He was going to get this out of her. "Did Potter do it?" he asked.
Draco waited for a long time but she didn't answer his question. He was about to give up when he noticed tears stream down her face. He touched her chin, making her look at him. He looked into her eyes and he knew. He knew that it was Potter who did this to her. Potter hurt her. He took a really deep breath to stop himself from bursting into anger in front of her. Instead, he wiped the tears from her face and hugged her tight. She surrendered to him and cried on his chest.
** Potter is going to pay for this.
He couldn't take it. No matter how Hermione reasoned that she was okay, no matter how she defended that he was drunk, he had no right. And I mean no right to hurt her. All she did was love him and now look what happened. He is going to make him pay.
He didn't know how he got in there but he was in the Gryffindor common room, shouting for Potter.
"Potter!"
Harry turned around in surprise when he saw Malfoy standing in the Gryffindor common room.
"Malfoy," Harry breathed with anger. "What are you doing here?"
"Confronting you on what you did to Hermione."
"What are you talking about?"
"You had no right to hurt her, Potter! You've done enough damage yelling at her and making her feel like shit but physical contact is out of the question!"
People started looking at each other and wondered what Malfoy was talking about. (They didn't know because no one witnessed the fight they had the night before, the night of the Quidditch match.) Even Ron looked confused.
"I didn't hurt her!" Harry yelled.
At that point, Hermione ran in the common room, pink in the face. Both guys turned to look at her and she looked at Draco then at Harry then back again. "Draco, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Tell him Hermione! He hurt you, didn't he?" Draco said. "Tell him that he hurt you."
Hermione looked into Harry's eyes and then looked away. She couldn't say it in front of everyone. She didn't have the heart to embarrass Harry that way. Instead, she turned to Draco. "I think you'd better leave," she said, grabbing his cloak and ushering him out of the common room.
"But, Hermione, you have to tell him or else he'll keep on doing it to you. He'll keep on hurting you and that won't be right," Draco said.
"Draco, please," Hermione pleaded.
Draco couldn't believe it. Here he comes defending her to her Potty in front of everyone and at great risk to his reputation and she does nothing? He angrily jerked his cloak away from her grasp, gave one loathing look at Potter, who looked back at him with triumph, and stormed out of the room.
Hermione turned around and faced Harry, Ron and every other Gryffindor in the room. She didn't know what to do or even what to say. Students in the common room were holding their breath. They didn't know what was going to happen now. Hermione slowly approached Harry.
"I'm sorry about that," she said. "I didn't know why--."
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Harry said. "You've been sneaking around with Malfoy behind my back."
Hermione gasped and put a hand to her mouth. She never thought in a million years that Harry would accuse her that way. Even Ron looked shocked at Harry's accusation.
"Harry, I don't think that's fair," Ron said. "What Malfoy did had nothing to do with her."
Harry glared at Ron then turned to Hermione. "I'm done here," he said and then went up to the dormitories. The students around them began whispering and gossiping with each other. What was to happen with the picture perfect couple now?
Hermione only watched Harry walk away. This time she didn't say anything and didn't feel the need to. Arguing won't fix anything. But not arguing would. She turned to Ron.
"Thanks for defending me, Ron," she said softly.
"No problem, Herm," he said. "I know you wouldn't do anything like that."
She smiled a little at him. "Thanks!" she said. "That was some show, huh?"
Ron grinned. "Only a little bit," he said. "Don't worry about Harry. He'll come around."
Hermione shook her head. "Harry can do whatever he wants, Ron. It doesn't matter anymore."
Ron looked at her confused. "What are you saying, Hermione?" he asked.
"It means that maybe we're not meant to be together after all."
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the story.
Hermione slowly opened her eyes. It was a new day. She smiled and stretched her arms, but as she did, she felt pain on her left arm. She sat up and examined it. There were black marks all over her arm. The marks of Harry's fingers were all over it. She sighed, got out of bed and got ready for the prefect meeting.
She went to the office, slowly opening the door and peeking inside to make sure that no one was there yet. She went inside, put her bag on the table, and curled up on the couch. Harry hurt her. Harry had hurt her. She sighed. She closed her eyes and tried to forget last night's events. She tried to reason with herself that he was drunk and that he didn't know what he was doing. He wasn't in his proper mind. So she couldn't blame him for what he did.
Couldn't blame him? Are you serious? He just hurt you. He physically hurt you. He looked like he knew what he was doing last night.
No, no. Harry would never hurt me. He told me so before.
Yeah. But he told you that he wouldn't yell at you again. But he did.
Hermione closed her eyes shut, trying to stop herself from crying. "But he didn't mean that!" she said out loud, not able to help herself anymore. "It was an accident."
"Talking to yourself is not a good thing, Hermione. People would think that you're going mental," Draco said, entering the room.
Hermione sat up on the couch and looked at him. She didn't hear anyone enter or even the door open. She turned red. "I. I was just think of something," she explained. "You're early," she continued, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah," he said. "I figured to go here since I was already up. By the way, congratulations on the Quidditch match."
Hermione smiled. "Thanks!" she said. "It was well deserved, wasn't it?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "Besides, Ravenclaw never stood a chance against Gryffindors. So I assume you guys partied all night."
Her smile slowly disappeared from her face as the night before's events flashed back to her mind. Draco noticed this. "What's wrong?" he asked.
She smiled at him and stood up. "Nothing," she said. "Where are the others? What's taking them so long?"
Draco also stood up and followed her by the table. "I expect they'll be arriving soon. Don't try changing the subject, Hermione. What happened last night?"
"Nothing, Draco."
"Then why are you avoiding the topic?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered almost to herself.
"Did you and Harry fight again?" he asked carefully, trying to catch her eyes.
Hermione looked at him. But just then, Padma and Marlon entered followed by professor McGonagall. She looked away and sat down. Draco sat down as well as they all went through the motions of the meeting. Finally, McGonagall came to the end of the meeting and asked a favor from them. She brought out a thick wad of parchments. "These are some of the essays done by second years. I want you guys to proofread them for me. I would do it myself but I have a lot of other things to attend to. Can I expect this from you four?"
The four prefects nodded. Before long, McGonagall had left, leaving them with the really thick pile of second year essays. The four of them sat down in front of each other on the desk and stared at it for a while.
"I think we should divide the pile to the four of us," Hermione said, breaking the silence. "That way we can do it much faster."
The other three agreed. They divided the pile against them and began proofreading. It was an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of transforming animals into water goblets.
"Is this the most stupid topic for an essay or what?" Draco said out loud, echoing the other three's thoughts.
Padma laughed. "Maybe McGonagall lost all sense of meaning of a good topic and just assigned this," she said. "Honestly. Ferraverto!" She laughed.
Marlon chuckled at this, glanced at Hermione and noticed that she was staring off into space. He reached out to her and held her arm gently. "Hermione, are you okay?" he asked.
Hermione flinched at his touch. He was holding on to her left arm, the arm where Harry's black finger marks were all over. Draco saw this. Marlon let go at once. "I'm sorry," Marlon said. "Did I hurt you?"
Hermione's eyes widened at this. "No. No!" she said. "I was just surprised. I wasn't listening."
Draco's eyes narrowed into slits. He knew that Hermione wasn't telling the truth. Marlon smiled warmly at Hermione. "Congratulations, by the way on your win over Gryffindor!" he said, glancing knowingly at Padma, who glared at him.
"Don't rub it in, Marlon. I know we lost okay," Padma said. "But I think Gryffindor deserved to win. Harry was so focused. I wonder how he focuses himself that well."
"Maybe because he was trying to impress his girl over here," Marlon said, smiling at Hermione again.
Hermione smiled weakly. Draco stood up and walked towards her. He leaned over and pretended to ask some help for the essay that he had on hand and casually squeezed Hermione's left arm. She screamed in pain. Marlon and Padma went over to her to see if she was fine.
"I'm sorry," Draco said, truly meaning it and feeling bad that he had done it. But he had to. He wanted to know if his suspicions were correct. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Hermione said, wiping her tears away. "I'm fine. You just squeezed too hard, Draco."
"Let's see it," Padma said and reached out to put her sleeve up.
"No!" Hermione said. But it was too late. They saw her arm with black marks all over it. Padma gasped and looked at Draco.
"But Draco couldn't have done that," Marlon said. "He just touched her and the marks wouldn't become visible that fast even if he did hurt her." He looked at Hermione curiously. "Where did this happen, Hermione?"
"Or rather, who did it?" Draco said.
Hermione rolled her eyes at them and pretended not to care about the bruise. She rolled her robe sleeve back down and went on reading the essay. "It's just a bruise I got from bumping into the wall one time. It's no big deal."
"But those looked like finger marks," Padma said, voicing her observation.
Hermione cringed. Why did Padma have to be so observant? "What are you talking about, Padma, that wasn't a--."
"Who did this, Hermione?" Draco asked, cutting her off.
Hermione looked at him, then at Padma, then at Marlon. The three of them wore questioning looks on their faces. "I told you guys, it's nothing," she said. Marlon shrugged and said, "I'm going down to breakfast. Anyone care to join me?"
"I'll join you," Padma said and left the room with him.
Hermione also began to gather her things and walked towards the door when Draco stood in front of her, blocking her way. "Draco, what are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm not going to let you leave until you tell me what really happened with your arm," he said. "I know the wall couldn't have done that. Besides, I know you're not that stupid as to let a wall hit you, Hermione."
She looked down and broke his gaze. "I'm telling you, Draco. It's not a big deal," she said meekly. "It's just a bruise."
"It's not just a bruise, Hermione," he said. "It's hurting you. Who did this?"
Hermione only shook her head. Draco took a deep breath and decided to take the plunge. He was going to get this out of her. "Did Potter do it?" he asked.
Draco waited for a long time but she didn't answer his question. He was about to give up when he noticed tears stream down her face. He touched her chin, making her look at him. He looked into her eyes and he knew. He knew that it was Potter who did this to her. Potter hurt her. He took a really deep breath to stop himself from bursting into anger in front of her. Instead, he wiped the tears from her face and hugged her tight. She surrendered to him and cried on his chest.
** Potter is going to pay for this.
He couldn't take it. No matter how Hermione reasoned that she was okay, no matter how she defended that he was drunk, he had no right. And I mean no right to hurt her. All she did was love him and now look what happened. He is going to make him pay.
He didn't know how he got in there but he was in the Gryffindor common room, shouting for Potter.
"Potter!"
Harry turned around in surprise when he saw Malfoy standing in the Gryffindor common room.
"Malfoy," Harry breathed with anger. "What are you doing here?"
"Confronting you on what you did to Hermione."
"What are you talking about?"
"You had no right to hurt her, Potter! You've done enough damage yelling at her and making her feel like shit but physical contact is out of the question!"
People started looking at each other and wondered what Malfoy was talking about. (They didn't know because no one witnessed the fight they had the night before, the night of the Quidditch match.) Even Ron looked confused.
"I didn't hurt her!" Harry yelled.
At that point, Hermione ran in the common room, pink in the face. Both guys turned to look at her and she looked at Draco then at Harry then back again. "Draco, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Tell him Hermione! He hurt you, didn't he?" Draco said. "Tell him that he hurt you."
Hermione looked into Harry's eyes and then looked away. She couldn't say it in front of everyone. She didn't have the heart to embarrass Harry that way. Instead, she turned to Draco. "I think you'd better leave," she said, grabbing his cloak and ushering him out of the common room.
"But, Hermione, you have to tell him or else he'll keep on doing it to you. He'll keep on hurting you and that won't be right," Draco said.
"Draco, please," Hermione pleaded.
Draco couldn't believe it. Here he comes defending her to her Potty in front of everyone and at great risk to his reputation and she does nothing? He angrily jerked his cloak away from her grasp, gave one loathing look at Potter, who looked back at him with triumph, and stormed out of the room.
Hermione turned around and faced Harry, Ron and every other Gryffindor in the room. She didn't know what to do or even what to say. Students in the common room were holding their breath. They didn't know what was going to happen now. Hermione slowly approached Harry.
"I'm sorry about that," she said. "I didn't know why--."
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Harry said. "You've been sneaking around with Malfoy behind my back."
Hermione gasped and put a hand to her mouth. She never thought in a million years that Harry would accuse her that way. Even Ron looked shocked at Harry's accusation.
"Harry, I don't think that's fair," Ron said. "What Malfoy did had nothing to do with her."
Harry glared at Ron then turned to Hermione. "I'm done here," he said and then went up to the dormitories. The students around them began whispering and gossiping with each other. What was to happen with the picture perfect couple now?
Hermione only watched Harry walk away. This time she didn't say anything and didn't feel the need to. Arguing won't fix anything. But not arguing would. She turned to Ron.
"Thanks for defending me, Ron," she said softly.
"No problem, Herm," he said. "I know you wouldn't do anything like that."
She smiled a little at him. "Thanks!" she said. "That was some show, huh?"
Ron grinned. "Only a little bit," he said. "Don't worry about Harry. He'll come around."
Hermione shook her head. "Harry can do whatever he wants, Ron. It doesn't matter anymore."
Ron looked at her confused. "What are you saying, Hermione?" he asked.
"It means that maybe we're not meant to be together after all."