Never Say Never
Chapter 16 - Aftermath
Disclaimer: all rights belong to J.K Rowling but I own the plot of this particular story.
Hermione's POV
I looked in the mirror and I could see bags under my eyes, no doubt I didn't get a very good sleep last night. I ran a tired arm through my tangled hair and stumbled back to my warm bed, thinking about how I would face the day.
For all I knew maybe Draco would already be with Annika or something, and we could go back to hating each other, so that I could forget what I felt for him, but that was too much to hope for, we still had that truce going on.
I hurriedly put on my black robes over the usual school uniform realizing that Lavender and Parvati were already gone. Everything felt so bleak and grey, it wasn't fair that with just one kiss he could turn my world upside down.
I grimaced as I nearly tripped down the stairs, at the moment I really didn't really care about anything except about what was going on with Draco and me, it was too preoccupying to ignore..
"Hey Mione!" said Harry as he saw me coming down the stairs and I forced a small smile onto my face to greet him, "You look tired."
Harry frowned and put a reassuringly arm around my shoulders, leading me over to a squashy armchair near the fireplace. Then I noticed that Ron was sitting next to him with a bland expression on his face and some toast with some jam on it on a napkin in his hand.
"We got breakfast for you..listen Mione, I think we should sit down and talk." Explained Harry as he took the armchair next to me and handed me some orange juice with the toast on the napkin, which I accepted gratefully. Thank god I didn't have to go down to the Great Hall and see Draco.
"Yeah, sure what do you want to talk about?" I asked curiously, taking a bite of the toast and a sip of the juice.
"Well, Ron and me have been thinking about your behaviour lately and it's been very strange. I mean remember yesterday at dinner when -" Harry was interrupted abruptly by Ron who until then had been quite mute.
"You don't do Muggle Studies, Hermione." He mumbled submissively, looking at me with concern. My eyes widened at the memory and I quickly shrugged my shoulders and said in a cheerful voice,
"Did I say Muggle Studies yesterday?! I think I meant Arithmancy, sorry must've gotten a bit confused." I smiled at them, hoping they wouldn't ask too much.
"You never get confused and you never need to catch up for Arithmancy!" Ron burst out and I suddenly felt a need to defend myself.
"How would you know, Ron?! I mean you never even noticed that I was a girl until you needed to ask someone out for the Yule Ball in fourth year. You never cared about my feelings when you called me an insufferable know-it- all and how do you think I felt when you accused me of being friends with Viktor when you were his biggest fan?!" I yelled back at him, letting my frustration get the better of me.
"What's that got to do with your weird behaviour these days?! We're talking about now, not the past! And anyway I've already said sorry to you over those things!" he shouted angrily.
"Listen, Ron, Hermione don't fight. I just wanted all of us to sort things out together, and that can't happen with you guys snapping at each other. We've been through a lot together, so lets not let something stupid like this tear us apart." Said Harry quietly, his eyes pleading with us.
"She started it." Muttered Ron and I gave him a glare, which made Harry sigh disappointedly.
"Who cares. We're here to talk about why Hermione hasn't been herself lately. Care to explain, Mione?" said Harry levelly, giving me an inquisitive look.
"Nothing's wrong. I've just been going through some rough times, I've got all this work, all this stress and just life's been really challenging." I said nonchalantly.
"Well, if you're in trouble then you should tell us." Said Harry softly, "That's what friends are for right?"
"Yeah, listen I'm sorry for acting so strangely lately. Its probably just 'hormones'." I joked giving Harry a weak smile, and Ron another glare when he snorted contemptuously.
"I bet it's a 'girl thing' again. Women are so hopeless." He muttered darkly.
"Great, so now that everything's good again, what about some real breakfast?" said Harry brightly as he stood up, heading towards the portrait hole.
"I'm full already, I don't need any real breakfast." I stated walking back to the staircase, "I'll see you guys in Transfiguration."
"Alright then. See you soon!" replied Harry as he slipped out of the common room with Ron trailing sullenly behind him.
I went back to my dormitory and I sat on the edge of my bed and began to wonder what Harry and Ron's reactions would be if they knew the real reason for my strange behaviour. I sighed, knowing that there would probably be no solution to this problem except to talk to Draco himself about it.
'I'm not going to let him get me down.' I told myself firmly and I knew that the only way to stop myself from falling even more for him was to end all relations with him, even if it meant for me to suffer. Anyway, Parvati was always telling me that if you wanted to stop liking someone, the solution was to chase after someone else...but the question was who?
[The Great Hall]
"You know I have a feeling that Hermione isn't telling us the whole truth." Said Ron suddenly.
"Really? I trust Mione, she's a smart girl, she knows what's best for her, so if she's trying to keep something from us maybe it's for the better, but I wouldn't mind knowing what she's hiding." Replied Harry thoughtfully.
"What's she doing there?!" exclaimed Ron in horror as they neared the Gryffindor table, seeing Lavender sitting in his usual spot next to Dean and Seamus. She turned around and beamed at him, patting the seat next to her.
"Looks like someone's got a seat saved for them.." Harry smirked at Ron mockingly and made his way to HIS usual seat next to Parvati which was much more welcome than Lavender's.
"What did I do to deserve all this?!" Ron muttered to himself before sitting next to Lavender who immediately turned to him and began to chatter. Then suddenly he turned and saw Malfoy glaring at him in a menacing sort of way. 'What's he so sour about?' he wondered to himself before shrugging it off as images of Hermione took over in his mind.
Draco's POV
"Bollocks." I muttered as Potter and that Weasel entered the Great Hall, one of them looking quite worried. I continued to glare at the redhead throughout the meal and I was aware that he turned around once or twice as a result of my staring, but that made me even angrier.
I could almost sense that those two had just been questioning Hermione about why she was out last night or something, they just couldn't keep their big fat noses out of anything to do with her. She deserves some privacy, I mean she has some right to keep some things hidden from them.
I shivered as I remembered what had happened last night, every touch so vivid and every memory so precious. God, what Potter and Weasley would do if they found out..oh well I know I could take them on any day, they were pixies compared to Crabbe and Goyle.
I looked around and I realized that Hermione hadn't come into the hall with them, which must mean that they had an argument or something..but that didn't have anything to do with me, she doesn't want me..she already made that clear last night.
A sleepless night last night had really helped me get things straight about what was going on between us. It was true, there was an attraction between us but as she said it was probably just lust, after all she didn't want to get involved with me because 'a Slytherin and Gryffindor' just don't go together. [those words hurt actually.]
Meanwhile on the other hand Annika was a Slytherin too and she was beautiful, not as witty as Hermione but still sly and smart..she would do. I wouldn't mind being seen around with her, as far as I was concerned she was hot property, she basically had every boy in Hogwarts drooling over her with the exception of Potter of course which I knew infuriated her to no end.
I smiled grimly at my decision and turned around to face Annika with a playful smirk on my face making her raise her perfectly sculpted eyebrows at me.
"I'm sorry about last night, I had no idea that you couldn't come through with me.." I started off, taking her hand in mine.
"It's alright. You're forgiven, but you did take awfully long to realize that I wasn't there with you.." She replied cunningly.
"Well, erm..lets not dwell on that, when I did get out of the room you weren't there anymore." I said pointedly.
"I was impatient, so naturally I left." Was the short answer I got. She pulled her hand away from mine and placed it daintily on the table.
"Fair enough, so if you want we could try again tonight, I'll make sure we get through that wall.." I whispered to her, pleading with her with my eyes. Her reaction was exactly what I had anticipated, a slight smile gracing her features as she pondered how to answer me.
"I'll be waiting." She murmured as she got up from the table, smoothed out her robes and walked briskly out of the Great Hall leaving many mouths open and some eyes following her appreciatively.
My usual smirk made its way back onto my face as I felt for the first time definite in my decision to forget Hermione. Tonight was going to be a night to be remembered.
Hermione's POV
Night had descended on the majestic castle, which was like a home to me. I felt the coolness of the wind coming in through the window, which was open and I shivered in spite of myself and hurriedly went to close it firmly.
I shook my head to clear it of the half-formed thoughts running through it, each starting or ending with a certain person's name.. I hadn't seen Draco all day and a small part of me was glad for that, but the bigger part of me was kind of anxious to get the task of talking everything over with him over and done with.
'What was I going to do?' I asked myself, wondering just how I would approach him, and what tone of voice I was going to use.. Ugh! What on earth was wrong with me?! Since when did I worry about little things such as that? I mean yes I was a perfectionist and all but this was my former archenemy..
Everything that had happened between us was wrong from the beginning and we both had to learn to accept it, no matter what feelings we still had for each other. With a start I sat up quickly, feeling a sudden burst of energy, and in that moment I finally had the courage to go and find that person that I had been dreading to talk to.
Before I knew it, my legs had carried me out of the common room, blissfully unnoticed and I was descending one of the many staircases of Hogwarts. Each step that I took was taking me closer and closer to him... should I go to the Slytherin Common Room and wait for him outside of there or what? Then it struck me, how could I forget our room?!
Immediately I turned and ran back up the steps I just came down from and hurried towards the common room, not even pausing to think about where I was going, my feet seemed to be moving at its own accord. As I neared the common room, a familiar nauseous feeling returned to me, I could feel all sorts of emotions coursing through my veins and it was making me feel dizzy.
But as the fateful corridor came into focus, I came to my senses and I steadied myself against the wall. I could feel his presence, but something troubled me, something told me that something was horribly wrong...but what?
I found the entrance to the room and took a deep breath to calm myself, 'Relax Hermione, there's nothing to be scared of..everything's going to be alright.' I reassured myself, everything's going to be just fine. By the time I come out of this room I'll be free, free from everything that a complicated relationship brings.
I took a small step forward and after a little hesitation, I took a few more steps and found myself slipping through the substance of the wall, the feeling no longer strange to me. As soon as I felt air on my skin once more I stopped walking and looked around the room for those telltale blond locks, and upon seeing them somewhere in the sea of armchairs I began to stride briskly towards them, all the while readying myself for the confrontation.
But the sight that greeted me made me stop in my tracks.
"Welcome." An icy voice loomed out of the shadows and the wand that I clutched in my hands flew out of my grip. I was defenseless and I was trapped.
Hey everyone,
This term at school has been so busy for me, esp. close to the end of it, so now that its holidays, I'm going to make up for it by posting a lot more =) is that alright with everyone?! =P well, firstly I want some reviews..this chapter ended with a cliffie, not a very good one but still one anyhow so I want people to tell me exactly what they think of the story so far, in order for me to continue the story to their liking. Alright? All clear? Good! Oh, and I'm sorry again for the delay for this chapter..it wasn't intended.
Well, I hope you're all looking forward to the next chapter! Because I promise you that it will be VERY interesting.. Oh yeah does anyone know how to make text BOLD and/or ITALICIZED?? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks everyone =)
psychohart
Chapter 16 - Aftermath
Disclaimer: all rights belong to J.K Rowling but I own the plot of this particular story.
Hermione's POV
I looked in the mirror and I could see bags under my eyes, no doubt I didn't get a very good sleep last night. I ran a tired arm through my tangled hair and stumbled back to my warm bed, thinking about how I would face the day.
For all I knew maybe Draco would already be with Annika or something, and we could go back to hating each other, so that I could forget what I felt for him, but that was too much to hope for, we still had that truce going on.
I hurriedly put on my black robes over the usual school uniform realizing that Lavender and Parvati were already gone. Everything felt so bleak and grey, it wasn't fair that with just one kiss he could turn my world upside down.
I grimaced as I nearly tripped down the stairs, at the moment I really didn't really care about anything except about what was going on with Draco and me, it was too preoccupying to ignore..
"Hey Mione!" said Harry as he saw me coming down the stairs and I forced a small smile onto my face to greet him, "You look tired."
Harry frowned and put a reassuringly arm around my shoulders, leading me over to a squashy armchair near the fireplace. Then I noticed that Ron was sitting next to him with a bland expression on his face and some toast with some jam on it on a napkin in his hand.
"We got breakfast for you..listen Mione, I think we should sit down and talk." Explained Harry as he took the armchair next to me and handed me some orange juice with the toast on the napkin, which I accepted gratefully. Thank god I didn't have to go down to the Great Hall and see Draco.
"Yeah, sure what do you want to talk about?" I asked curiously, taking a bite of the toast and a sip of the juice.
"Well, Ron and me have been thinking about your behaviour lately and it's been very strange. I mean remember yesterday at dinner when -" Harry was interrupted abruptly by Ron who until then had been quite mute.
"You don't do Muggle Studies, Hermione." He mumbled submissively, looking at me with concern. My eyes widened at the memory and I quickly shrugged my shoulders and said in a cheerful voice,
"Did I say Muggle Studies yesterday?! I think I meant Arithmancy, sorry must've gotten a bit confused." I smiled at them, hoping they wouldn't ask too much.
"You never get confused and you never need to catch up for Arithmancy!" Ron burst out and I suddenly felt a need to defend myself.
"How would you know, Ron?! I mean you never even noticed that I was a girl until you needed to ask someone out for the Yule Ball in fourth year. You never cared about my feelings when you called me an insufferable know-it- all and how do you think I felt when you accused me of being friends with Viktor when you were his biggest fan?!" I yelled back at him, letting my frustration get the better of me.
"What's that got to do with your weird behaviour these days?! We're talking about now, not the past! And anyway I've already said sorry to you over those things!" he shouted angrily.
"Listen, Ron, Hermione don't fight. I just wanted all of us to sort things out together, and that can't happen with you guys snapping at each other. We've been through a lot together, so lets not let something stupid like this tear us apart." Said Harry quietly, his eyes pleading with us.
"She started it." Muttered Ron and I gave him a glare, which made Harry sigh disappointedly.
"Who cares. We're here to talk about why Hermione hasn't been herself lately. Care to explain, Mione?" said Harry levelly, giving me an inquisitive look.
"Nothing's wrong. I've just been going through some rough times, I've got all this work, all this stress and just life's been really challenging." I said nonchalantly.
"Well, if you're in trouble then you should tell us." Said Harry softly, "That's what friends are for right?"
"Yeah, listen I'm sorry for acting so strangely lately. Its probably just 'hormones'." I joked giving Harry a weak smile, and Ron another glare when he snorted contemptuously.
"I bet it's a 'girl thing' again. Women are so hopeless." He muttered darkly.
"Great, so now that everything's good again, what about some real breakfast?" said Harry brightly as he stood up, heading towards the portrait hole.
"I'm full already, I don't need any real breakfast." I stated walking back to the staircase, "I'll see you guys in Transfiguration."
"Alright then. See you soon!" replied Harry as he slipped out of the common room with Ron trailing sullenly behind him.
I went back to my dormitory and I sat on the edge of my bed and began to wonder what Harry and Ron's reactions would be if they knew the real reason for my strange behaviour. I sighed, knowing that there would probably be no solution to this problem except to talk to Draco himself about it.
'I'm not going to let him get me down.' I told myself firmly and I knew that the only way to stop myself from falling even more for him was to end all relations with him, even if it meant for me to suffer. Anyway, Parvati was always telling me that if you wanted to stop liking someone, the solution was to chase after someone else...but the question was who?
[The Great Hall]
"You know I have a feeling that Hermione isn't telling us the whole truth." Said Ron suddenly.
"Really? I trust Mione, she's a smart girl, she knows what's best for her, so if she's trying to keep something from us maybe it's for the better, but I wouldn't mind knowing what she's hiding." Replied Harry thoughtfully.
"What's she doing there?!" exclaimed Ron in horror as they neared the Gryffindor table, seeing Lavender sitting in his usual spot next to Dean and Seamus. She turned around and beamed at him, patting the seat next to her.
"Looks like someone's got a seat saved for them.." Harry smirked at Ron mockingly and made his way to HIS usual seat next to Parvati which was much more welcome than Lavender's.
"What did I do to deserve all this?!" Ron muttered to himself before sitting next to Lavender who immediately turned to him and began to chatter. Then suddenly he turned and saw Malfoy glaring at him in a menacing sort of way. 'What's he so sour about?' he wondered to himself before shrugging it off as images of Hermione took over in his mind.
Draco's POV
"Bollocks." I muttered as Potter and that Weasel entered the Great Hall, one of them looking quite worried. I continued to glare at the redhead throughout the meal and I was aware that he turned around once or twice as a result of my staring, but that made me even angrier.
I could almost sense that those two had just been questioning Hermione about why she was out last night or something, they just couldn't keep their big fat noses out of anything to do with her. She deserves some privacy, I mean she has some right to keep some things hidden from them.
I shivered as I remembered what had happened last night, every touch so vivid and every memory so precious. God, what Potter and Weasley would do if they found out..oh well I know I could take them on any day, they were pixies compared to Crabbe and Goyle.
I looked around and I realized that Hermione hadn't come into the hall with them, which must mean that they had an argument or something..but that didn't have anything to do with me, she doesn't want me..she already made that clear last night.
A sleepless night last night had really helped me get things straight about what was going on between us. It was true, there was an attraction between us but as she said it was probably just lust, after all she didn't want to get involved with me because 'a Slytherin and Gryffindor' just don't go together. [those words hurt actually.]
Meanwhile on the other hand Annika was a Slytherin too and she was beautiful, not as witty as Hermione but still sly and smart..she would do. I wouldn't mind being seen around with her, as far as I was concerned she was hot property, she basically had every boy in Hogwarts drooling over her with the exception of Potter of course which I knew infuriated her to no end.
I smiled grimly at my decision and turned around to face Annika with a playful smirk on my face making her raise her perfectly sculpted eyebrows at me.
"I'm sorry about last night, I had no idea that you couldn't come through with me.." I started off, taking her hand in mine.
"It's alright. You're forgiven, but you did take awfully long to realize that I wasn't there with you.." She replied cunningly.
"Well, erm..lets not dwell on that, when I did get out of the room you weren't there anymore." I said pointedly.
"I was impatient, so naturally I left." Was the short answer I got. She pulled her hand away from mine and placed it daintily on the table.
"Fair enough, so if you want we could try again tonight, I'll make sure we get through that wall.." I whispered to her, pleading with her with my eyes. Her reaction was exactly what I had anticipated, a slight smile gracing her features as she pondered how to answer me.
"I'll be waiting." She murmured as she got up from the table, smoothed out her robes and walked briskly out of the Great Hall leaving many mouths open and some eyes following her appreciatively.
My usual smirk made its way back onto my face as I felt for the first time definite in my decision to forget Hermione. Tonight was going to be a night to be remembered.
Hermione's POV
Night had descended on the majestic castle, which was like a home to me. I felt the coolness of the wind coming in through the window, which was open and I shivered in spite of myself and hurriedly went to close it firmly.
I shook my head to clear it of the half-formed thoughts running through it, each starting or ending with a certain person's name.. I hadn't seen Draco all day and a small part of me was glad for that, but the bigger part of me was kind of anxious to get the task of talking everything over with him over and done with.
'What was I going to do?' I asked myself, wondering just how I would approach him, and what tone of voice I was going to use.. Ugh! What on earth was wrong with me?! Since when did I worry about little things such as that? I mean yes I was a perfectionist and all but this was my former archenemy..
Everything that had happened between us was wrong from the beginning and we both had to learn to accept it, no matter what feelings we still had for each other. With a start I sat up quickly, feeling a sudden burst of energy, and in that moment I finally had the courage to go and find that person that I had been dreading to talk to.
Before I knew it, my legs had carried me out of the common room, blissfully unnoticed and I was descending one of the many staircases of Hogwarts. Each step that I took was taking me closer and closer to him... should I go to the Slytherin Common Room and wait for him outside of there or what? Then it struck me, how could I forget our room?!
Immediately I turned and ran back up the steps I just came down from and hurried towards the common room, not even pausing to think about where I was going, my feet seemed to be moving at its own accord. As I neared the common room, a familiar nauseous feeling returned to me, I could feel all sorts of emotions coursing through my veins and it was making me feel dizzy.
But as the fateful corridor came into focus, I came to my senses and I steadied myself against the wall. I could feel his presence, but something troubled me, something told me that something was horribly wrong...but what?
I found the entrance to the room and took a deep breath to calm myself, 'Relax Hermione, there's nothing to be scared of..everything's going to be alright.' I reassured myself, everything's going to be just fine. By the time I come out of this room I'll be free, free from everything that a complicated relationship brings.
I took a small step forward and after a little hesitation, I took a few more steps and found myself slipping through the substance of the wall, the feeling no longer strange to me. As soon as I felt air on my skin once more I stopped walking and looked around the room for those telltale blond locks, and upon seeing them somewhere in the sea of armchairs I began to stride briskly towards them, all the while readying myself for the confrontation.
But the sight that greeted me made me stop in my tracks.
"Welcome." An icy voice loomed out of the shadows and the wand that I clutched in my hands flew out of my grip. I was defenseless and I was trapped.
Hey everyone,
This term at school has been so busy for me, esp. close to the end of it, so now that its holidays, I'm going to make up for it by posting a lot more =) is that alright with everyone?! =P well, firstly I want some reviews..this chapter ended with a cliffie, not a very good one but still one anyhow so I want people to tell me exactly what they think of the story so far, in order for me to continue the story to their liking. Alright? All clear? Good! Oh, and I'm sorry again for the delay for this chapter..it wasn't intended.
Well, I hope you're all looking forward to the next chapter! Because I promise you that it will be VERY interesting.. Oh yeah does anyone know how to make text BOLD and/or ITALICIZED?? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks everyone =)
psychohart