Note: Well, well, well, next chapter guys. I would like to comment on my last chapter. Some of you said it sounded rushed. I wanted to get it out before I left that weekend. We went to the beach for my birthday, which was Wednesday, April 30… Um, so, I wanted to get it out before then. Lol, well, here's my next chapter and I hope it's better than the last one.
Chapter twenty-four
Not so different
Cause there's nothing like being held sometimes.
Hermione sat in between Liam and Draco's beds for quite some time, hoping upon hope that they would wake up soon. She laid her head onto the mattress at the foot of Draco's bed and gently dozed off into sleep. The last thought that she remembered thinking was about Draco… Draco and how peaceful he looked when he slept.
~
"Hermione, honey, you need to wake up." Hermione opened her drooping brown eyes that focused on the kind twinkle in Madam Pomfrey's. "Draco and Liam will do fine in my care I assure you. You can go back to your room." Hermione nodded, standing up slowly.
She walked down the hall as if in a trance. She entered her and Draco's room, immediately collapsing on the couch in front of the warm firelight. She pulled the blanket that had been thrown across the back of the couch around her. It smelled of Draco's cologne. She smiled faintly and whispered, "Goodnight Draco." She fell asleep for the second time that night.
~
Hermione rolled over and felt for a second as if she was about to fall off the small couch, but strong arms held on to her. She opened her eyes. They first focused on the shady grey eyes in front of her. "Draco," she whispered, shocked. She placed her hand on his cheek to see if she was dreaming, when she discovered that she was not, she exclaimed. "I can't believe you're awake! I was waiting beside the bed. Madam Pomfrey told me to come back to the room-"
"Ssh, it's okay." Draco mumbled. "You're getting too worked up about things. That's hardly necessary."
"How are you feeling?" Hermione whispered.
"Good, I'm practically immune to that curse anyway." Draco gave a one armed shrug.
"Where's Liam?" Hermione questioned.
"He's still unconscious, but I'm sure he'll be okay."
"What if he's not?" Hermione sat up. "I mean there is no logical explanation for what happened. He shouldn't have survived! He could still die Draco! What if he does??"
"Liam is fine." Draco assured her again.
Hermione stood from the couch, "We're graduating in a few days Draco."
"Yes, I know." He, too, had sat up and was now staring into the empty hearth.
"What do you plan to do after this year?" Hermione sat down on the other couch, staring at his profile. "I mean, you don't still wish to follow your father's course, do you?"
"What if I do, Hermione? I want to become the next Dark Lord. Would you be able to stop me?" He looked over at her, eyes holding a look she had not seen in them in quite some time.
"I didn't mean it that way-"
"Then, by all means, what did you mean?" Draco snapped.
"I meant… I… I meant that…"
"Exactly, you don't know what you meant." Draco stood. "I'm going in my room."
Hermione watched his retreating back, but never once did a tear escape her eyes. She stayed stiff and watched. When his door slammed shut, she rose to her feet and walked briskly to her room.
~
Not long after that, Hermione went to check on Liam in the hospital wing, only to find that he wasn't there. She was on her way outside anyway, so she figured she'd look for him on her way and if she found him great. If not, well, she could find him later.
She pushed open the oak doors and inhaled the sweet scent of summer. She smiled slightly as she made her way towards her tree. The spot where she always thought, but she paused briefly when she noticed a form under her tree.
As she neared closer, she recognized it. Liam. She sat beside him and sighed, "So, how are you?"
"Fine," he mumbled.
"I think you have a few things to explain to me." Hermione looked over at him as he looked at her. He jerked his head away quickly.
"I don't have to explain anything to you!" He snapped.
"Yes, you do. Now that we are on speaking terms, I have a few questions to ask you."
"Whatever, ask away." Liam shrugged.
"Why did you come with me when I asked you to help me?"
"Help you to kill Voldemort. I would have followed you through hell to kill that son of a bitch!" Liam scowled.
"Why?" Hermione ventured.
"Because he killed my family. Me and potter. We're not so different."
Hermione nodded, "How did you survive the Avada curse?"
"Oh, I've been working on a counter curse for it," he said quickly.
"Really?" Hermione sounded hopeful.
"No, actually I… I'm… I'm related to Voldemort. In a distantly way, I'm also a heir of Salazar." Liam looked over at Hermione. His green eyes saddened her.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, though for what she wasn't sure.
"It's okay." Liam nodded.
"Is that why the professors don't call you by your last name?" Hermione questioned.
"No," Liam laughed. "I placed a fake name on the registration form. I'm a Macias. I requested that they don't call me by my last name."
Hermione laughed, "I was expecting some mysterious answer."
Liam smiled, "you know you aren't that bad."
"Neither are you. Though a last month I thought you were the meanest person on this earth. You're actually quite entertaining."
Liam nodded, "I guess this teaches us not to make judgments."
Hermione turned to look at him, their eyes locking again. "Liam…" He leaned forward, about to kiss her on the lips when she turned her head sideways and he got nothing but air.
"I'm sorry, but you see… I like someone else."
"I know. You like Malfoy. I'm not stupid."
Hermione smiled, "no, your not. Friends," she offered him her hand.
Liam looked at it as if it would bite for a long time. Finally, he took her hand, "Friends."
~
Graduation came and Draco had still not talked to Hermione. She wasn't quite sure what she was going to do about it seeing as after Graduation that was it. We boarded the train and left. They were going into the real world.
Hermione straightened her robes once again. Liam walked up beside her, his Slytherin patch standing out against his dark robes. "Hermione, you look fine."
"I know. It's just that…"
"He hasn't talked to you."
"Yes," she replied as they began the music. Hermione watched the Ravenclaw's form a line and walk into the Great Hall and then the Hufflepuff. Soon, it was the Slytherins and Liam had to leave her. She didn't see Draco and she didn't have time to look. As soon as Slytherin left they began to round up Gryffindors.
Tears slipped silently down Hermione's face. She didn't know if they were because she was leaving Hogwarts and her friends or if they were because she was leaving him.
Hermione walked down the row, with all the Parents watching their kids, except hers. Hermione sighed as she was introduced. "Here's one of our brightest. Hermione Granger." Hermione walked forward, taking the piece of paper from Dumbledore. "I expect great things from you, Ms. Granger. Great things." He smiled.
That was Hermione's image of Dumbledore for a long time, because after Graduation they herded them all onto the trains. They had the dinner before the whole 'handing out slips' so there was nothing to do, but watch Hogwarts disappear in the darkness.
During the whole trip, she saw not one glimpse of either Draco or Liam. She felt the train screech to a halt and then every body began piling off. She inhaled her last breathe of Hogwarts train air and stepped off onto the pavement of the train station.
"As we walk down the isle at graduation I will be crying tears of joy, because we've finally made it...at last it's all over. The second ones will be of sadness, because I know each step we take will pull us farther apart."
"We laughed when they told us it was over, and then we cried when they told us we had to leave."
Note: Okay, there it is. I know it was probably a lot in that one little chapter. The wake up, fight, her and Liam and the GRADUATION. Real life is coming at last. Hogwarts is over.
Well, I ask kindly for 180… please… ;p
Thanks and have a good night, day and/or evening…