Chapter 7- Parchment Talk

The next night, Hermione trudged through the portrait hole after an awkward talk with Malf…Draco. They were having a hard time talking the way they would in the letters directly to each other's faces. She still felt the meeting was worthwhile, but M…Draco said he would have preferred a detention with Harry. Well, he said *Potter*.

After saying that she was insulted by his remark, he apologized and said he wasn't serious. They had said goodbye a minute later.

The scene Hermione walked in on was, to say the least, complete pandemonium. Everyone in the common room was yelling, gathered around two boys apparently fighting, rooting for neither but enjoying the fight. Some seemed to be yelling for them to stop. One in particular- Ginny Weasley.

Hermione pushed her way through the crowd in time to see Harry dragging Ron off of Seamus. "You bloody bastard! You traitor! You-"

"Ron!" Hermione cried. "What is going on here?"

"I just found Seamus here on top of Ginny-"

"We weren't *doing* anything, Ron," Ginny said exasperatedly.

"You kissed!"

"Well, that's true, but-"

"You shouldn't be kissing older boys in the middle of the common room!" Ron roared. Ginny covered her ears and sat on the back of the nearest couch.

"Ron," Hermione began. "You're a prefect. You're supposed to be setting a good example for the younger students. You can't just go beating someone up every time you see someone doing something with Ginny."

"Oh?" Ron's eyes flashed angrily. His face was completely red and his breathing was deep and haggard. "And how many times should I expect to see something like that?"

Hermione covered her mouth. "I didn't mean it that way! I just meant, you can't jump to conclusions. And even if you could jump to a conclusion, Ginny can make her own decisions. She would never let anyone take advantage of her. *And* you're a prefect."

Harry stood holding one of Ron's arms. Ron did not seem to want to shake him off, but he shot Seamus glares that would have sent him to the seventeenth circle of Hell, had there been one. Seamus sat on the floor, rubbing his neck where Ron had just barely managed a death grip before Harry pulled him away. "Seamus, maybe you should go to Madame Pomfrey. Just to make sure."

He nodded. Ginny helped him to his feet. "I'll go with you. Oh, shut up, Ron, I'm going and you can't do anything about it." Ginny rolled her eyes toward Hermione and she and Seamus left.

"Ron, you have to learn to control yourself. Ginny would not do anything she shouldn't."

"She shouldn't be kissing my roommates," he muttered.

"Fine, if you're not going to listen to me. Harry, why don't you try to talk some sense into him." She stalked off to her room.

Homework was a lost cause, she discovered about an hour later when she had only written two feet of her essay. She was too distracted, thinking about Draco. She was very frustrated with herself for not being about to do her homework.

Ginny bounced in, a rather silly mixture of happiness and outrage on her face. She plopped down on Hermione's bed. "Madame Pomfrey is making Seamus stay in the hospital wing. She says it would be safer than in the dorm."

Hermione agreed. "So how did he end up on top of you?"

Ginny blushed. "It's stupid."

"Tell me."

"Well…we were wrestling, okay? Don't ask why, I can't remember. Anyway, he won, and I was giving him a congratulatory kiss when Ron came in. He attacked him without thinking. Merlin, sometimes I hate my brother."

Hermione had kept one eyebrow raised through the whole thing. "Wrestling?"

"Leave me alone, Hermione."

"No, I think it's cute."

Ginny laughed. "I guess. I really like Seamus."

"I was wondering whatever happened to Dean."

"Dean, please," Ginny said, gesturing in a dismissive way. "After a month we agreed not to go out. We just weren't really interested in each other."

Hermione looked down at her Charms essay. She needed at least half a foot more. She should be done by now. "Forget the homework, Hermione. Let's go have some fun."

Later, Hermione had to admit that she did have fun.

************************************************************************

"This is ridiculous," Draco said suddenly. It was a week since their second meeting, and they were once again sitting silently in the Room of Requirement. "We need to get past this."

Suddenly a stack of parchment sat in front of them, with two bottles of ink and two black quills. Hermione's ink was red, while his was green.

~* D: There. Now we can talk like we usually do, only it won't take so long to get a response. Is that better?

H: This is going to look like Christmas.

D: Hmm. You're right.

H: How is this the way we usually do?

D: It's not. That's the point. This is talking how we would if we could actually talk to each other. If we can learn to do it on paper, then we can progress to normal conversation. Got it?

H: Oh. Well, that makes sense.

D: Of course it does.

H: What does that mean?

D: It means it's my idea, why wouldn't it make sense?

H: Arrogance is *not* a virtue.

D: Oh, sure, you can talk, miss "I'm smarter than anyone at this school".

H: I do *not* think that.

D: You act like it.

H: I hadn't noticed.

D: Apparently.

H:…

D: Okay, enough of this. Why don't we really talk?

H: Only if you promise not to spread rumors. I mean, everyone's going to find out anyway, but…you know.

D: What?

H: Nevermind.

D: I meant, what happened that everyone's going to find out.

H: I know what you meant. You don't have to go explaining things to me. I can understand perfectly well.

D: There's more than one thing I could have meant.

H: Oh, stop trying to rationalize your mistakes.

D: Argument on paper.

H: You already proved that point. This is different, anyway. This is not a series of letters.

D: Thank you for pointing that out, Hermione. I had not noticed, myself.

H: I am now rolling my eyes.

D: I saw.

H: And I saw you rolling yours.

D: I don't think we're really getting anywhere here.

H: I don't either.

D: Maybe you should tell me.

H: Tell you what?

D: That thing that happened.

H: Oh. Ginny's going with Seamus. Ron almost killed him when he found out.

D: I would laugh right now, but I like the silence in the room.

H: I'm not sure how I feel about it.

D: The silence?

H: …or anything.

D: I'm not sure I know what you mean.

H: Everything, Draco. This whole thing. Us. I guess. I mean, I still like you, but I just don't know.

D: So you think we should just forget the whole thing?

H: NO! Draco, I don't mean that. I want to keep this going. I just can't see how it's going to work out in the end, and that…scares me.*~

Draco looked up at Hermione when he read this. She was staring at the table.

~* D: Look at me, Hermione.*~

She looked up. He gave her the most reassuring smile he could muster. She smiled weakly back. He sent her a look that said, "It will turn out all right. No one can tell us who to be friends with. I want to be friends with you probably more than you do with me, and I won't let anyone take you away."

~* H: Thank you, Draco.

D: You're welcome. You're the only real friend I've ever had, and I will fight to keep you that way. Not the only one. I mean as a friend.

H: I'm glad to know that. I would fight for you as well, now that I know you.

D: That's good.

H: Hey!

D: What did I do now?

H: Nothing. I just realized that I've been calling you Draco without thinking about it for the past week.

D: I'm laughing on the inside. *~

Hermione looked up to see his grin. She swatted at him, barely brushing his shoulder with her fingertips. A slight warmth spread through him at her touch.

~* H: Why do I feel so comfortable around you?

D: Probably because you know everything about me.

H: Not everything.

D: What don't you know?

H: You know. Stuff like favorite color, favorite food, longest book you've ever read, you know.

D: I meant the important things. Black, fudge, I don't keep track of the lengths of books I read. What about you?

H: I know what you *meant*, but since you didn't specify I decided to take it literally. Emerald, raspberries, 'Alternate Magic'.

D: What was it about?

H: Magic other than what we learn in school. You know, no wands, no potions…other things.

D: What else is there?

H: Well, sometimes you can do a spell without a wand. And then, well, maybe I shouldn't get into that now. We can talk about it some other time. It also talks about magical items that augment your power.

D: Well, I thought that was what wands were for.

H: No, wands direct your power. It's true, without your own wand you don't have as much power, but that's just because of compatibility. But your wand does not give you more power than you already have.

D: Interesting.

H: You're not being sarcastic, are you?

D: No.

H: Oh, okay. Well, what else?

D: What?

H: I want to know about you. *~

They spent the next three sheets of parchment telling each other every little thing about themselves. Draco was surprised to learn that Hermione's lowest grade was, in fact, a fail. She also said it wasn't her fault. She had already chosen names for a son and a daughter, but she refused to tell him what they were. She was not sure what she wanted to do after school but she thought that teaching sounded like fun.

~* D: Does it?

H: Well, yes. You don't think so?

D: Not really. Sitting in a class with a bunch of eleven year olds?

H: Not all the teachers have a first year class.

D: Still. *~

And he told her that he wanted to work in the Ministry, something to do with Dark Magic, but he was not sure he wanted to actually be an Auror.

~* H: Are there any other jobs relating to Dark Magic?

D: I'll make one up.

H: You can't just make up a new job for yourself.

D: Why not?

H: It just doesn't work like that.

D: There'll probably be something by the end of next year.

H: Maybe. *~

He told her that his father had named his (Draco's) owl Rasputin, he didn't really like the name but the bird wouldn't respond to anything else.

~* H: Sounds a little like Pig.

D: Pig?

H: Ron's owl. Ginny named him Pigwidgeon. *~

He told her that liked being at Hogwarts a lot better than being at home. He told her about his house, the garden out in back with all the rosebushes. He said he'd try to get his mother to send him some to show her. He told her all the little things that he never told anybody because nobody seemed to care.

He realized that nobody knew him at all.

Well, his mother did, but that was different.

Nobody knew anything about him, except for Hermione.

She knew. And she liked him. Did that mean that if people like Potter and Weasley knew him, they would like him? Not necessarily. He did not quite relish the thought of having them as friends, anyway.

But he did like having Hermione as a friend.

~* H: It's really late!

D: It doesn't matter.

H: Come on, Draco. We can't be out of our dorms much later than this.

D: All right, all right, let's go.

H: Wait.

D: What now?

H: Thank you.

D: No, Hermione. Thank you. *~

The same hand-holding routine happened, a little longer this time, and then she had gone out the door with one last- was that confused?- glance back at him.

End Chapter 7

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