Chapter 10- Would You Believe Me?
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Hi again everybody. Firstly and most importantly (for me at least) England won the England vs. Argentina match. Yay! (sorry to anybody who goes for Argentina, they are a really good team.) I so wanted Owen to get the goal and he was close on a number of occasions but oh well! You are probably thinking what has this got to do with anything and the point is that I was so happy that I felt I just had to write so you can thank the English team for this chapter! My email list is growing and the offer still stands if anybody wants to join. This chapter is again made up of lots of dialogue so I hope you don't mind! Enjoy.
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***
"Not again, Hermione!" Ron stood next to them like an angry father. "Right, we are going back to the common room where you and I are going to have a little chat." He grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her down the corridor.
"I'll see you tonight then, honey." Draco called after them enjoying the blush on her cheeks and the scowl on Ron's face.
When they reached their common room Ron roughly pushed his best friend into an armchair and stood facing her with his arms crossed.
"So." He stated.
"So?" she replied.
There was silence for a minute or so then Hermione, getting fed up, rose from the chair.
"Well as fascinating as this conversation is I have a potions essay so if you don't mind."
Ron silently pushed her back in to her seat.
"Ron…"
"You have two minutes.
"To do what?"
"Explain to me why you're kissing that slimy git all over the school."
"Firstly, I didn't want him to…"
"Lie." Ron interrupted his face stony.
"I don't like that he is …"
"Lie."
"I never meant to…"
"Lie."
"Oh stop it! How can I explain things if you keep interrupting me?!" Hermione burst out.
"I asked you to explain, not to lie."
"How do you know I'm lying?" she asked sulkily.
"Because we have been best friends for over six years."
She sighed, resigned to the fact that he did know her too well for her to deceive him.
"I lost control, I admit it. The first time we kissed in the infirmary, I just lost it. Nothing has happened since then apart from just then in the corridor when… oh I don't know! He was just being kind of nice and to be honest…he intrigues me."
"Intrigues you!" Ron went bright red, "what it there to know? He comes from an evil family, he has evil friends, he enjoys studying evil things and he does evil things, all these evil characteristics bring me to the conclusion that he is evil!"
"If he was so evil he wouldn't have saved me from Jonathon that first time, he wouldn't have come running for me today and he would be sending me images of death or something when he mind talks instead of just annoying me."
Ron sighed.
"Fine, agreed, not evil but very annoying."
Hermione grinned for what felt like the first time in ages.
"Agreed!"
"Annoying and dangerous." Ron added
"Something is going on." Hermione consented.
"Yeah and I just realised what when I saw you two in the corridor just now." Ron said grimly.
"What? What did you realise?"
"That I'm playing right into his hands. Something is going to happen, I know it, something big and I bet you anything Malfoy has been instructed to make sure the dream team is split up during it."
"Huh?" Hermione was baffled, what was he trying to say?
"Look Hermione I know we usually avoid this subject but someone needs to bring it up. Nothing happened last year, right?"
"Well if you call me getting the best Arithmancy marks in the history of Hogwarts nothing then…"
"You know what I mean!" he shouted harshly.
Hermione flinched.
"Yes I know what you mean, there was no attempt on Harry's life and Voldemort did not rear his ugly head once."
"Exactly? And why do you think that is?" he didn't wait for her answer and instead ploughed on "Because he and his death eaters are saving up for something big, that's why. I say a thousand galleons on Malfoy being told that it will be easier to defeat Harry if we aren't there to support him and so he is working on splitting us up. Not evil exactly but the implications are bad. I have to know if you'll be true, Hermione. I know that Malfoy makes most girls go weak at the knees and I always thought you were beyond that but if you really want him then Harry and I will go it alone and stop pestering you." His speech finished Ron looked at Hermione apprehensively waiting for her answer.
She burst out laughing and threw her arms around his neck.
"You silly idiot! You know I love you and Harry more then life itself…even more then books." She added slyly, "whatever the choices, no matter how appealing I will always choose you two. Malfoy? Malfoy who?"
Ron laughed and, gripping her tightly by the waist, swung her around.
"I can't believe I doubted you."
"Neither can I!" she said indignantly, "Harry doesn't know about any of this does he." It was more of a statement then a question and Ron nodded to confirm her assumption. "And we're not going to tell him are we?"
"No." he said fiercely.
"Funny, Harry protects the world and we protect him."
"Nothing funny about it." Ron said grimly.
"No I guess not."
***
At breakfast the next morning Ronan couldn't take his eyes off Hermione. She
was dressed in a long grey skirt with a red jumper and her black robe to keep
off the chill and now she had reconciled with Ron the sparkle in her eyes was
back and twice as bright. He was not alone, Malfoy
also stared at her quite conspicuously until Ron threw a piece of toast at him
then he stared down at his plate. Suddenly:
'Hermione?'
'Malfoy, I told you before not to mind talk to me.'
'I know, I can't help it. I need to talk to you.'
'Well I don't want to talk to you so leave me alone.'
'Please?'
Hermione faltered, she had never heard Malfoy say please before and as much as she hated to admit it she was wavering.
Draco could see her debating with herself when suddenly she leant over to Ron and whispered something in his ear. The red head looked startled, then angry and then, finally he nodded and whispered something back. She nodded too, took his hand giving it a squeeze then gave the blonde Slytherin a pointed look and excused herself from the table. Malfoy followed and found her sitting on the steps of the staircase sweeping up from the entrance hall.
"Talk." She said shortly.
"Well that's friendly." Draco looked more closely at her and saw she was closed off from him. He swore under his breath and then said out loud, "he has said something to you hasn't he?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." She sniffed.
He sat down next to her in one fluid movement and took her hands in his.
"Ron. He has told you to stay away from me."
"Well I don't know you look pretty close to me." Hermione quipped avoiding his eyes.
"I can think of a way we could be closer." he said leaning in but much to his surprise she suddenly jumped up and moved on to the next step. 'Must be losing my touch.' He thought.
'I heard that' said a smug voice inside his head.
"How?" he spluttered staring at her incredulously.
Hermione loved how confused Malfoy looked, he had totally lost his omniscient air.
"I've been doing some reading and I discovered you were lying to me when you said mind speech had to be invited. For the temporary spell that would be true but for that incantation there has to be a spoken agreement between the receiver and the sender. We had no such conversation so you must be using some sort of gadget, probably a Mind Invader which are very expensive, but if you have nothing better to spend your family's fortune on that's your own choice.
Her superior look was grating on Malfoy's nerves but he managed to control his temper.
"Very good." He drawled.
"Yes I know." She said sounding very conceited, "I also found a reversal spell which means I can block my inner monologue and read yours."
"You little…!" He blurted out, she only laughed her bright laugh not at all intimidated.
"It seems you have been outwitted, ferret."
"It doesn't change the fact that you kissed me and enjoyed it." he hissed trying to claw back control of the conversation.
"Oh really! It is getting extremely old, the kiss was a mistake end of story."
Draco decided to change his tack.
"Would you believe me if I said that that kiss meant more to me? That it meant a lot to me in fact?"
"No." she said glibly, "now if you have nothing more interesting to say, I'm off." And true to her word she hurried away from him, up the stairs.
***
'Pansy!' he called as Hermione ran out of sight.
'Yes Draccy?' her grating voice entered his mind making him wince.
'I think we have a problem.'
'Why?'
'Miss Granger doesn't seem to want to play anymore.'
'Oh no, your father is going to be very angry.' She gasped
'He won't know!' Draco roared back then he took a deep calming breath. 'He won't know because it's not finished, not by a long shot.'
***
Hermione met Ron at the top of the flight of stairs where he had been listening in.
"Oh 'Mione that was great!" he laughed slinging an arm over her shoulders.
"Wasn't it?!" she giggled.
"Not so intriguing now?"
"No." Hermione said quickly, lying through her teeth.
Ron didn't spot her lie but that was because he was concerned about something else. "Have you seen Harry today?" he asked trying to sound calm.
"Harry? No. You share a dormitory with him haven't you seen him?" Hermione said enquiringly.
"No and his bed didn't look like it had been slept in."
Hermione stopped dead and her face paled.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Because I was hoping he would be down at breakfast and then with the Malfoy thing…" Ron trailed off and Hermione, following his line of sight, saw Harry stagger out onto their corridor from an adjoining hallway.
"Harry!" she called relieved and they both ran towards him.
He turned his head towards them as he heard her shout.
"Oh hey." He said weakly before collapsing to the ground.
***
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Harry is hardly ever in this story, well he probably will be in it more later. A couple of reviewers seem to think that Hermione and Ron are getting a little close but they are just friends and their friendship is integral to the plot (I hear some of you saying, what plot?!) so I have to make a big deal of it. Technically Harry's friendship is supposed to be as important but he kind of annoys me so I don't feature him much (sorry to all you die-hard Harry fans!). My thankyous are as follows:
Lil' dudette: You don't really care about Harry either?! Cool =). Anyway no need to be sorry about not liking Ron and Hermione together that is totally fine, they aren't my favourite couple (I bet you can't guess who is!) but I think I would like to see if I could write a story about them anyway. Thankyou for reviewing again.
Gaille: Poor you, at least you are still smiling and I hope this time you are better for good! It is so cool that you love my story and thankyou so much for telling me so! You are on my email list so expect to be hearing from me!
Chikata: I'm excited too and I'm very glad I made you so! I will continue, rest assured. Thankyou for reviewing.
Sailor Earth: Yes poor Hermione but she did get to kiss Draco so she can't complain! I'm glad you liked chapter 9 and I have updated soon. You are on my email list and thankyou for reviewing.
Kitty: Yes, I think he will eventually soften up, the thing is in my previous story he became nice so quickly it was way out of character and I'm determined no to repeat that mistake. Neville will probably be waking up soon and there will be another sub plot added when he does…that's all I'm saying for now but he will change a little.(and yes I do know what you mean!) Thankyou so much for reviewing.
Dragon eyes: well phew! I couldn't lose such a nice reviewer! Thankyou so much for saying chapter 9 was a great chapter and I hope you like this one too.
Vixen: OOOH I love to keep people in suspense. I will write fast but I'm sorry to say I can sense this story is going to be long and you won't find out what is going on until the very end. However I am going to drop many hints so you'll probably be able to guess! Wow you are damn proud of me, goody! I'm lucky as the only reason I am updating so quickly is because I am on holidays, I feel for you though and good luck on your exams. Thankyou for saying that you agree with Hermione's character at the moment she is a little more assertive in this chapter as well. You are a great reviewer, thankyou =)
Jade: Goodness, you aren't supposed to thank me! I'm supposed to thank you! Thankyou anyway. (Hmm a few too many thanks there I think!) It was wonderful to have someone say that they are in character and I will definitely keep writing.
Maya: I have hurried up and it was brilliant of you to say my story is great. Thankyou so much!
Well, what do people think of my new summary? Good?, Bad?, Should I go back to my original, stay with this one or think up another new one? Thankyou for reading now be a love and review for me?! Next chapter should be up some time soon as I have another week of holidays to go…however I have some social stuff and homework to do. (Do teachers not get the point of holidays?!)
Smiles and marshmallows to you all
Jess/Star123
