CHAPTER 5~ Emotionless
For the next few weeks, Hermione and Draco basically ignored each other. Hermione would wake up before Draco and return to her room before him once classes were over. Draco would purposely stay out later because he felt that Hermione wouldn't want to see him. During classes, Draco would try to catch her glance, but she would purposely avoid his gaze, and the same thing happened at dinner.
Finally the week before Halloween, they returned to the common room at the same time. "Granger," Draco acknowledged.
"Malfoy." She sat down on a couch and pretended to read, but put the book down. "I need to talk to you."
"About?" He sat down on a chair and looked intently at her.
"That kiss a few weeks ago," she said shyly. Her cheeks turned a light crimson color and she looked down at the floor. "I don't know about you, but it meant something to me." He continued to look bored even though he did feel something. "Are you just gunna sit there and let me do all the talking or are you gunna say something?"
He smirked a little and said, "It's kinda fun to see you get all flustered. Please continue?"
"You're such and insufferable prick! I can't believe I actually fucking helped you, too! Why do you have to be like this?"
He pretended to look thoughtful for a moment and responded with, "It's just the way I am, Granger. You should know that by now. And if you would like to know, I'm thankful that you helped me. I have but a meager scar on my back now."
This just made Hermione more upset, as Draco knew it would. "I didn't ask you about your fucking back, Malfoy!" she spat. "Don't you ever listen when people talk to you? Did that mean anything to you?"
"I can't answer that," he mumbled as he looked away.
"And why's that?" Her voice was a little calmer, but there was a fire still burning in her eyes.
"I just can't okay? Don't get so worried about it."
Hermione didn't understand. She didn't know what he meant by he couldn't tell her. "Oh fuck it! I'm gunna go take a shower. I won't sit here and talk to you because I'm not getting anywhere. Attempting to talk to you is like talking to a brick wall." She stood up and turned to go up the stairs and headed to her room.
**Stupid, stupid, stupid!** Draco cursed himself mentally. **Why can't you tell her? She is right; I am an insufferable prick. That kiss meant everything to me, and the only reason I'm not telling her is to keep up my goddamn reputation to please my bastard of a father. Alright, when she comes back down here, I'll tell her**
Hermione wasn't in the mood to take a bath. The only thing she wanted was the comfort of her bed. She let the water run gently over her small figure and she caressed herself gently with her watermelon-scented soap.
Once she was out, she put on her red pajama pants and a black t-shirt. "Malfoy, you can have the bathroom if you want it," she called through her door.
**Well, fuck that idea** he thought. **I guess I'll just have to wait to tell her**
He solemnly climbed the stairs to his dorm and he took a quick shower.
When he finally fell asleep, he had a dream that Hermione was making out with Potter and Weasley at the same time right in front if him. Needless to say, this woke him up fairly quick. Checking his watch, he realized that it was only eleven, so he decided to go back down to the common room since he figured he wouldn't be getting to sleep for a while anyway.
There were still some embers burning in the fireplace. He could faintly make out a figure on the couch and knew it was Hermione. As he crept closer, he saw that she was lying down and staring off into oblivion.
"What do you want?" she snapped at him.
He was taken aback. "I couldn't sleep. If I had known you were down here, I would have stayed up in my room. At least it's peaceful up there."
"Well go back there then if you don't wanna be around me. I could care less." She was actually hoping he would stay to keep her company.
Draco decided to ignore her and sat down across from her. "Since you don't want me here, I guess I'll have to stay just to make your life a living hell. How does that sound? Good, I thought so."
"You're such an asshole, Malfoy. I don't know how I ever put up with you."
"Oh am I, Granger? What would that make you then? Ah, let's see.a know-it- all Gryffindor bitch who thinks she is smarter than everyone in our year, which is true-book smart that is, but when it comes to real life, you obviously have no idea how to read a person or someone's emotions."
The look on her face was one of pure shock. "What makes you think I can't read emotions or people?"
His lips curled upward into that devilish smirk that could make women drop dead for him. Well every woman but one-Hermione Granger. "Tell me what I'm feeling now if you can read emotions so well."
She studied his face for a while, but found nothing in his eyes and his smirk meant absolutely nothing except that he was thinking of some devious plan to make her look bad once again. "Oh come on, Malfoy, that's not fair. You never show any emotions. It appears as though there is never any life inside of you except for the fact that you breathe."
"I knew I was right-you can't read people. You have to be able to see through the front that some of us put up. I'm not as dead as I may seem to be. In fact I have just as many thoughts and feelings as you do. The difference is I know how to cover up what I'm thinking and feeling for my own safety. I can see through the fronts people put up, I learned from years of practice." Draco ran his long, pale fingers through his silvery- blonde hair. It slipped through his digits easily and he brought his hand back down to rest on the arm of the sofa.
Hermione watched him carefully and could tell that he wanted her to figure something out without actually telling her what it was. "You're not telling me something, but I know you want to."
"Okay, so we're getting somewhere." He stared at her intently as if waiting her to figure out something more.
"I can't do this, Malfoy. You're right okay, I can't read people, I can't read emotions. I'm helpless with this. You are the person who is skilled in this topic. Why don't you read my emotions?"
He rolled his eyes and drawled, "You're very flustered because you realized that this is not a topic you can learn from a book and you don't like that feeling. I also know that you fancy me, but you won't even admit that to yourself let alone me. If you didn't, you wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation with me. You are also feeling left out because your gay friends would much prefer each other than you and you don't like that feeling because you've been there for them since first year. There's also a feeling of apprehension because you want to know what I think about you, but I can't tell you so you won't be finding out anytime soon. The last thing is you're shocked that I know more about you than you do."
She didn't say anything; she couldn't. Her mouth was hanging opened and her eyes were wide. Draco leaned back against that couch with a satisfied smirk on his lips. "Well, Granger? Any comments or thoughts?"
"Uh-I-you-well-how?"
"Oh come on Granger, I know you have a larger vocabulary than that. Where the hell did all that wit disappear to?" He watched her again as her body began to quiver back and forth. "Cold, Granger?"
She shook her head and stared into his grey eyes. Shaking his head ever so slightly, he got up to leave. "You fancy me, Malfoy," she whispered barely audibly.
"Come again?"
"You fancy me," she repeated a little louder.
"What would make you think that?" He settled himself back into the comfortable couch and glanced into her deep brown pools.
"You said yourself that if I didn't fancy you, I wouldn't have been having this conversation with you. I began to analyze what you were saying and it just kinda clicked. If you didn't fancy me, you would have never come down here to talk to me."
"Very good, Granger. I'm surprised you picked up on that, however, I am feeling very fatigued right now, so I must be getting some sleep." **Hopefully without anymore disturbing dreams** "Goodnight, Granger," he said in a teasing voice.
"'Night, Malfoy," she responded in the same manner. ^^How the hell can he just do that? I finally figure a part of him out and he goes to bed and acts like it means nothing to him. Pureblooded asshole! I can't believe how selfish one person can be. Well I am talking about Malfoy here-a.k.a. the biggest prat to ever step foot into this school^^
Hermione watched his back as he ascended up the stairs to his dorm. As he was about to close his door, he turned and winked at Hermione. Or that's what it appeared he did from her seat. Shaking the image furiously from her head, she clambered up the stairs to her own dorm, and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
~
The next morning was Saturday, and Draco woke up at noon. His dorm was dark since the drapes were pulled shut. He hated the sunlight; he always had. Slowly, he got out of his bed and walked into the bathroom. After brushing his teeth, he headed into the common room to find Hermione reading.
"'Morning," he mumbled as he sat down across from her.
"Don't you mean afternoon?" she responded without looking up from her book.
"Yeah, whatever." As he watched her, he realized that she hadn't turned the page in at least five minutes and her eyes were staring at one point on the page. "Are you actually reading that or just staring at it?"
"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking." She finally tore her eyes from the book to look at Draco. "Did you mean what you said last night?"
"About? I did say a lot last night."
"Do you really fancy me?"
"Well I never exactly said that I did. You simply implied that I did and I agreed with you. But to answer your question, I meant everything I said last night after the initiation of our conversation," he said lazily as he looked down at his perfectly sculpted hands.
"Okay, I was just wondering." She threw her book across the couch and onto the nearest table. "Why me? There are so many other pretty girls in this school. Why do you fancy me?"
"You happen to be the only girl who can match me in wits and smarts. I respect that and congratulate you for it. As for being pretty, I do happen to think that you are gorgeous and you are prettier than most of the girls in this school. You don't worry about wearing make-up, so you don't look like a fifty-cent whore. I happen to like the fact that you don't hide your beautiful features under all that artificial shit."
Hermione's face became slightly pink. "Um, thanks, I guess."
"Yeah, well, I have to get dressed because I'm already late in departing for Hogsmeade. See you later, Granger."
"Can I accompany you?" she asked sounding a bit desperate.
"I'm afraid you already know the answer to that."
"I had a feeling you'd say that, but it was worth a try."
Draco did a quick spell to change his clothes and headed out of the common room with a discrete backward glance. Hermione watched after him with longing eyes. She wanted nothing more than to accompany Draco to Hogsmeade even though she knew about what they would hear from their fellow students.
Draco didn't like just leaving Hermione. He wanted her to go with him; he wanted it more than- almost anything. She was the one woman that he was forbidden to ever have. She was a muggle-born witch and if his father found out anything about him liking her, he would be dead within minutes.
Hermione left the common room about ten minutes after Draco. She figured she should make the best of the day and go out with her friends. Although they were gay, she still enjoyed their company very much. The only thing that bothered her a little was when they got all mushy and forgot Hermione was around, but even then she didn't get mad at them.
Draco met up with his friend Jeremy on the way to Hogsmeade. He was one of the few people Draco trusted, and even then he didn't trust him with everything. Jeremy kept asking if there was anything going on between Draco and Hermione and Draco would respond by saying, "Absolutely nothing."
"Well do you think she would go out with me?" Jeremy queried.
Draco raised an eyebrow and answered with, "What would you want to go out with someone like her for. You know that it wouldn't be accepted. Anyway, I don't think she's into someone like you. I think she's looking for a long-term relationship, and I know you can't give that to her."
"So you've talked about this?"
"No, but that's the aura I'm getting from her." He chuckled a bit, "Right, Jeremy, me talking to the Mudblood? Have you lost your mind?"
"Well, you do live with her. I'm sure you haven't failed to notice that she looks pretty good."
The blood was boiling inside Draco's veins. He couldn't stand that his best friend was talking about Hermione like that. Of course he didn't know what Draco felt for her because Draco wouldn't let anyone know about that. Draco snorted, "Yes, she looks terrific! Her clothes are always too big for her, and her hair looked better when it was long and frizzy. I can't believe we are even having this conversation. Granger is a Gryffindor, know-it-all, Mudblood bitch who could never give you what you wanted."
As he said this, he felt someone rush past him. He watched the retreating back and noticed that it had been Hermione. She had heard what he said and he hadn't meant a word of it. The only thing he wanted was for Jeremy to back off and just forget about her.
Hermione had just exited the Three Broomsticks and Draco was walking by with a friend she had seen him converse with at meal times and during classes. ".Granger is a Gryffindor, know-it-all, Mudblood bitch who could never give you what you wanted."
Tears began to well up in her eyes as she pushed past him and headed back to the castle. A few hours earlier he had said that he felt for her as she did for him, and now he was talking shit about her behind her back. She didn't know whether she wanted to cry or to rip his heart out of his chest, tear it apart with her bare hands and stomp on it malevolently. Both had seemed rather appealing to her, although crying wouldn't kill Draco. However, she wanted to make him feel how he felt.
In the Entrance Hall, Hermione felt an arm grab her wrist and whirl her around. "Listen to me!" Draco demanded as she struggled to get free.
She pulled her wrist back, but still he didn't let go. His grip only became tighter around her small wrist. "Why should I? Now that I know what you really think of me."
"I didn't mean that! I didn't want Jeremy to suspect anything. What would he have said if I told him the reason I didn't want him to go out with you is because I couldn't bare to see you with anyone but me? That wouldn't have gone over well."
Hermione looked at him with a pained expression on her face. "Why should I believe you? You're a filthy, lying, no good, sad excuse for a pureblooded Slytherin!"
Draco's eyes almost popped out of his head. Never had anyone dared to mock his background. He was from one of the oldest and most prestigious wizarding families still in existence. "How can you say that?"
"From what I just heard I believe everything I just said. You didn't have to say anything, you know? You didn't have to be so goddamn harsh."
"Look, Hermione, I said that to save myself. I had to say that shit, unless you want to help me fix another gash like the last one from my father. He would torture me to the brink of death if he knew I even felt something for you."
He was still gripping Hermione's wrist tightly, but all pain seemed to stop when he said her name. She couldn't think anymore, and her head felt like it was spinning. "Why did you say that?"
"I already told you."
"Not that. Why'd you say my name?"
"I don't know. You make me want to be a better person. You make my days brighter. I like to be around you even when you're not talking or feeling particularly friendly. Your very existence intoxicates my being." He looked away and his cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
Hermione looked up at his face. He really did look adorable when he was blushing. "Can you do two things for me?"
"Depends," he answered slyly putting his famous smirk on.
"Number one is let go of my wrist because I can't feel it anymore."
"Oh, right, sorry," he mumbled as he let go of her and dropped his hand to his side while she massaged her bruised skin gently.
"The second is come back up with me to the common room so we can continue this conversation in private without having to worry about someone walking through those doors at any minute."
"Of course."
He took her hand in his and they quietly walked up to their common room to finish their conversation.
For the next few weeks, Hermione and Draco basically ignored each other. Hermione would wake up before Draco and return to her room before him once classes were over. Draco would purposely stay out later because he felt that Hermione wouldn't want to see him. During classes, Draco would try to catch her glance, but she would purposely avoid his gaze, and the same thing happened at dinner.
Finally the week before Halloween, they returned to the common room at the same time. "Granger," Draco acknowledged.
"Malfoy." She sat down on a couch and pretended to read, but put the book down. "I need to talk to you."
"About?" He sat down on a chair and looked intently at her.
"That kiss a few weeks ago," she said shyly. Her cheeks turned a light crimson color and she looked down at the floor. "I don't know about you, but it meant something to me." He continued to look bored even though he did feel something. "Are you just gunna sit there and let me do all the talking or are you gunna say something?"
He smirked a little and said, "It's kinda fun to see you get all flustered. Please continue?"
"You're such and insufferable prick! I can't believe I actually fucking helped you, too! Why do you have to be like this?"
He pretended to look thoughtful for a moment and responded with, "It's just the way I am, Granger. You should know that by now. And if you would like to know, I'm thankful that you helped me. I have but a meager scar on my back now."
This just made Hermione more upset, as Draco knew it would. "I didn't ask you about your fucking back, Malfoy!" she spat. "Don't you ever listen when people talk to you? Did that mean anything to you?"
"I can't answer that," he mumbled as he looked away.
"And why's that?" Her voice was a little calmer, but there was a fire still burning in her eyes.
"I just can't okay? Don't get so worried about it."
Hermione didn't understand. She didn't know what he meant by he couldn't tell her. "Oh fuck it! I'm gunna go take a shower. I won't sit here and talk to you because I'm not getting anywhere. Attempting to talk to you is like talking to a brick wall." She stood up and turned to go up the stairs and headed to her room.
**Stupid, stupid, stupid!** Draco cursed himself mentally. **Why can't you tell her? She is right; I am an insufferable prick. That kiss meant everything to me, and the only reason I'm not telling her is to keep up my goddamn reputation to please my bastard of a father. Alright, when she comes back down here, I'll tell her**
Hermione wasn't in the mood to take a bath. The only thing she wanted was the comfort of her bed. She let the water run gently over her small figure and she caressed herself gently with her watermelon-scented soap.
Once she was out, she put on her red pajama pants and a black t-shirt. "Malfoy, you can have the bathroom if you want it," she called through her door.
**Well, fuck that idea** he thought. **I guess I'll just have to wait to tell her**
He solemnly climbed the stairs to his dorm and he took a quick shower.
When he finally fell asleep, he had a dream that Hermione was making out with Potter and Weasley at the same time right in front if him. Needless to say, this woke him up fairly quick. Checking his watch, he realized that it was only eleven, so he decided to go back down to the common room since he figured he wouldn't be getting to sleep for a while anyway.
There were still some embers burning in the fireplace. He could faintly make out a figure on the couch and knew it was Hermione. As he crept closer, he saw that she was lying down and staring off into oblivion.
"What do you want?" she snapped at him.
He was taken aback. "I couldn't sleep. If I had known you were down here, I would have stayed up in my room. At least it's peaceful up there."
"Well go back there then if you don't wanna be around me. I could care less." She was actually hoping he would stay to keep her company.
Draco decided to ignore her and sat down across from her. "Since you don't want me here, I guess I'll have to stay just to make your life a living hell. How does that sound? Good, I thought so."
"You're such an asshole, Malfoy. I don't know how I ever put up with you."
"Oh am I, Granger? What would that make you then? Ah, let's see.a know-it- all Gryffindor bitch who thinks she is smarter than everyone in our year, which is true-book smart that is, but when it comes to real life, you obviously have no idea how to read a person or someone's emotions."
The look on her face was one of pure shock. "What makes you think I can't read emotions or people?"
His lips curled upward into that devilish smirk that could make women drop dead for him. Well every woman but one-Hermione Granger. "Tell me what I'm feeling now if you can read emotions so well."
She studied his face for a while, but found nothing in his eyes and his smirk meant absolutely nothing except that he was thinking of some devious plan to make her look bad once again. "Oh come on, Malfoy, that's not fair. You never show any emotions. It appears as though there is never any life inside of you except for the fact that you breathe."
"I knew I was right-you can't read people. You have to be able to see through the front that some of us put up. I'm not as dead as I may seem to be. In fact I have just as many thoughts and feelings as you do. The difference is I know how to cover up what I'm thinking and feeling for my own safety. I can see through the fronts people put up, I learned from years of practice." Draco ran his long, pale fingers through his silvery- blonde hair. It slipped through his digits easily and he brought his hand back down to rest on the arm of the sofa.
Hermione watched him carefully and could tell that he wanted her to figure something out without actually telling her what it was. "You're not telling me something, but I know you want to."
"Okay, so we're getting somewhere." He stared at her intently as if waiting her to figure out something more.
"I can't do this, Malfoy. You're right okay, I can't read people, I can't read emotions. I'm helpless with this. You are the person who is skilled in this topic. Why don't you read my emotions?"
He rolled his eyes and drawled, "You're very flustered because you realized that this is not a topic you can learn from a book and you don't like that feeling. I also know that you fancy me, but you won't even admit that to yourself let alone me. If you didn't, you wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation with me. You are also feeling left out because your gay friends would much prefer each other than you and you don't like that feeling because you've been there for them since first year. There's also a feeling of apprehension because you want to know what I think about you, but I can't tell you so you won't be finding out anytime soon. The last thing is you're shocked that I know more about you than you do."
She didn't say anything; she couldn't. Her mouth was hanging opened and her eyes were wide. Draco leaned back against that couch with a satisfied smirk on his lips. "Well, Granger? Any comments or thoughts?"
"Uh-I-you-well-how?"
"Oh come on Granger, I know you have a larger vocabulary than that. Where the hell did all that wit disappear to?" He watched her again as her body began to quiver back and forth. "Cold, Granger?"
She shook her head and stared into his grey eyes. Shaking his head ever so slightly, he got up to leave. "You fancy me, Malfoy," she whispered barely audibly.
"Come again?"
"You fancy me," she repeated a little louder.
"What would make you think that?" He settled himself back into the comfortable couch and glanced into her deep brown pools.
"You said yourself that if I didn't fancy you, I wouldn't have been having this conversation with you. I began to analyze what you were saying and it just kinda clicked. If you didn't fancy me, you would have never come down here to talk to me."
"Very good, Granger. I'm surprised you picked up on that, however, I am feeling very fatigued right now, so I must be getting some sleep." **Hopefully without anymore disturbing dreams** "Goodnight, Granger," he said in a teasing voice.
"'Night, Malfoy," she responded in the same manner. ^^How the hell can he just do that? I finally figure a part of him out and he goes to bed and acts like it means nothing to him. Pureblooded asshole! I can't believe how selfish one person can be. Well I am talking about Malfoy here-a.k.a. the biggest prat to ever step foot into this school^^
Hermione watched his back as he ascended up the stairs to his dorm. As he was about to close his door, he turned and winked at Hermione. Or that's what it appeared he did from her seat. Shaking the image furiously from her head, she clambered up the stairs to her own dorm, and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
~
The next morning was Saturday, and Draco woke up at noon. His dorm was dark since the drapes were pulled shut. He hated the sunlight; he always had. Slowly, he got out of his bed and walked into the bathroom. After brushing his teeth, he headed into the common room to find Hermione reading.
"'Morning," he mumbled as he sat down across from her.
"Don't you mean afternoon?" she responded without looking up from her book.
"Yeah, whatever." As he watched her, he realized that she hadn't turned the page in at least five minutes and her eyes were staring at one point on the page. "Are you actually reading that or just staring at it?"
"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking." She finally tore her eyes from the book to look at Draco. "Did you mean what you said last night?"
"About? I did say a lot last night."
"Do you really fancy me?"
"Well I never exactly said that I did. You simply implied that I did and I agreed with you. But to answer your question, I meant everything I said last night after the initiation of our conversation," he said lazily as he looked down at his perfectly sculpted hands.
"Okay, I was just wondering." She threw her book across the couch and onto the nearest table. "Why me? There are so many other pretty girls in this school. Why do you fancy me?"
"You happen to be the only girl who can match me in wits and smarts. I respect that and congratulate you for it. As for being pretty, I do happen to think that you are gorgeous and you are prettier than most of the girls in this school. You don't worry about wearing make-up, so you don't look like a fifty-cent whore. I happen to like the fact that you don't hide your beautiful features under all that artificial shit."
Hermione's face became slightly pink. "Um, thanks, I guess."
"Yeah, well, I have to get dressed because I'm already late in departing for Hogsmeade. See you later, Granger."
"Can I accompany you?" she asked sounding a bit desperate.
"I'm afraid you already know the answer to that."
"I had a feeling you'd say that, but it was worth a try."
Draco did a quick spell to change his clothes and headed out of the common room with a discrete backward glance. Hermione watched after him with longing eyes. She wanted nothing more than to accompany Draco to Hogsmeade even though she knew about what they would hear from their fellow students.
Draco didn't like just leaving Hermione. He wanted her to go with him; he wanted it more than- almost anything. She was the one woman that he was forbidden to ever have. She was a muggle-born witch and if his father found out anything about him liking her, he would be dead within minutes.
Hermione left the common room about ten minutes after Draco. She figured she should make the best of the day and go out with her friends. Although they were gay, she still enjoyed their company very much. The only thing that bothered her a little was when they got all mushy and forgot Hermione was around, but even then she didn't get mad at them.
Draco met up with his friend Jeremy on the way to Hogsmeade. He was one of the few people Draco trusted, and even then he didn't trust him with everything. Jeremy kept asking if there was anything going on between Draco and Hermione and Draco would respond by saying, "Absolutely nothing."
"Well do you think she would go out with me?" Jeremy queried.
Draco raised an eyebrow and answered with, "What would you want to go out with someone like her for. You know that it wouldn't be accepted. Anyway, I don't think she's into someone like you. I think she's looking for a long-term relationship, and I know you can't give that to her."
"So you've talked about this?"
"No, but that's the aura I'm getting from her." He chuckled a bit, "Right, Jeremy, me talking to the Mudblood? Have you lost your mind?"
"Well, you do live with her. I'm sure you haven't failed to notice that she looks pretty good."
The blood was boiling inside Draco's veins. He couldn't stand that his best friend was talking about Hermione like that. Of course he didn't know what Draco felt for her because Draco wouldn't let anyone know about that. Draco snorted, "Yes, she looks terrific! Her clothes are always too big for her, and her hair looked better when it was long and frizzy. I can't believe we are even having this conversation. Granger is a Gryffindor, know-it-all, Mudblood bitch who could never give you what you wanted."
As he said this, he felt someone rush past him. He watched the retreating back and noticed that it had been Hermione. She had heard what he said and he hadn't meant a word of it. The only thing he wanted was for Jeremy to back off and just forget about her.
Hermione had just exited the Three Broomsticks and Draco was walking by with a friend she had seen him converse with at meal times and during classes. ".Granger is a Gryffindor, know-it-all, Mudblood bitch who could never give you what you wanted."
Tears began to well up in her eyes as she pushed past him and headed back to the castle. A few hours earlier he had said that he felt for her as she did for him, and now he was talking shit about her behind her back. She didn't know whether she wanted to cry or to rip his heart out of his chest, tear it apart with her bare hands and stomp on it malevolently. Both had seemed rather appealing to her, although crying wouldn't kill Draco. However, she wanted to make him feel how he felt.
In the Entrance Hall, Hermione felt an arm grab her wrist and whirl her around. "Listen to me!" Draco demanded as she struggled to get free.
She pulled her wrist back, but still he didn't let go. His grip only became tighter around her small wrist. "Why should I? Now that I know what you really think of me."
"I didn't mean that! I didn't want Jeremy to suspect anything. What would he have said if I told him the reason I didn't want him to go out with you is because I couldn't bare to see you with anyone but me? That wouldn't have gone over well."
Hermione looked at him with a pained expression on her face. "Why should I believe you? You're a filthy, lying, no good, sad excuse for a pureblooded Slytherin!"
Draco's eyes almost popped out of his head. Never had anyone dared to mock his background. He was from one of the oldest and most prestigious wizarding families still in existence. "How can you say that?"
"From what I just heard I believe everything I just said. You didn't have to say anything, you know? You didn't have to be so goddamn harsh."
"Look, Hermione, I said that to save myself. I had to say that shit, unless you want to help me fix another gash like the last one from my father. He would torture me to the brink of death if he knew I even felt something for you."
He was still gripping Hermione's wrist tightly, but all pain seemed to stop when he said her name. She couldn't think anymore, and her head felt like it was spinning. "Why did you say that?"
"I already told you."
"Not that. Why'd you say my name?"
"I don't know. You make me want to be a better person. You make my days brighter. I like to be around you even when you're not talking or feeling particularly friendly. Your very existence intoxicates my being." He looked away and his cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
Hermione looked up at his face. He really did look adorable when he was blushing. "Can you do two things for me?"
"Depends," he answered slyly putting his famous smirk on.
"Number one is let go of my wrist because I can't feel it anymore."
"Oh, right, sorry," he mumbled as he let go of her and dropped his hand to his side while she massaged her bruised skin gently.
"The second is come back up with me to the common room so we can continue this conversation in private without having to worry about someone walking through those doors at any minute."
"Of course."
He took her hand in his and they quietly walked up to their common room to finish their conversation.