Chapter 25- The Silent Treatment
Hermione had been dreading entering the prefects' compartment on the Hogwarts Express since the day she got her letter. She took a deep breath and opened the door.
A few of the prefects had arrived already, mostly the younger ones, eager to begin their duties. Hermione followed the gaze of a hopeful-eyed Slytherin girl to the corner, where Draco was sitting. Glaring at the girl, she sat in the opposite corner, waiting for the rest to show up.
When they had, she began the speech she had planned. "Welcome new prefects, welcome back old. I'm Hermione Granger, for those of you who don't know, and this is…" he made no move to introduce himself, but met her gaze evenly. "Draco Malfoy. We are the Head Boy and Girl this year. As prefects, you…"
At the end of the speech, Draco still had not spoken a word. Though she was itching to roll her eyes, she did not. What was his problem? "Now you will receive the passwords for your dormitories. I've written them on these little slips of paper. Once both of the prefects for the house has read the password, the paper will dissolve, so you had better remember them." She passed them out. "Okay, everyone got it? Good. Now, for the next forty-five minutes, you patrol the hallways, and then we'll take over. Go do your duty."
Sighing, the prefects stood, and filed out of the compartment. She walked behind them. Before leaving, she felt someone standing very close behind her. "We need to talk."
"Not here," she whispered.
"Why not? It *is* normal for the Head Boy and Girl to talk, you know. We'll have to eventually. We're alone, when would be a better time?"
Hermione looked at him, then shook her head and left the compartment. She walked depressed through the corridors, buying a pumpkin pasty off the lunch cart and eating it as she patrolled. He always had to pick the worst times to make her feel terrible.
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She didn't want to talk to him. He slowly wandered the corridors, shoulders slumped, returning to his own compartment when they had almost reached the school.
She wasn't going to talk to him. Well, fine then. He wouldn't talk to her either.
************************************************************************
As instructed, Hermione and Draco went to Professor McGonagall's office after the start of term feast to receive further instructions.
"Ah, you're here," she said briskly. "Good. Sit down. No, don't worry, this is nothing serious, but it is important, seeing as you have to know how to get into your dormitory. The password, from now up until the end of the month, is 'Mysticity'. You two will come up with the passwords for your own dorm when this password has expired. Be warned, if you tell anyone, the password will immediately be changed, and you will need to see me to find out the new password."
"I suppose it would help if I told you the location, as well. Your dorm is on the fourth floor, behind a large, blue-hued mountain landscape. It is between a picture of a woman holding a baby and a man with a sword through his stomach. I did not choose these, so if you don't like them do not complain to me."
"Now, there is one other thing you should know about your dormitory. It is set up for two people, a boy and a girl. You will share a common room, but there will be two corridors off of it leading to your rooms and separate bathrooms. You will be unable to enter each other's corridors. It is a precaution we take to ensure that no…unwanted activity occurs. I trust that you will take this as a warning, and not do anything you should not."
"There is one other thing I wanted to talk to the two of you about. I know that you have not gotten along in the past, but as Head Boy and Girl, I expect you, and Dumbledore expects you to work together, and not to set a bad example for the younger students by arguing. You will be seen to get along to others. Dumbledore had the final say in who was chosen. I do not know why he picked the two of you, but I am sure there must be a good reason. Part of that reason is that you two are the students who most deserve the privilege. I know you will take it seriously, and not abuse it. That is all, you should go to your dorms now."
Hermione turned immediately and left, taking stiff, quick steps to keep ahead of her male counterpart. *Damn, now I've passed the stairway to the fourth floor.* She took a few steps in the opposite direction and began the ascent.
In no time, they had found a large painting of a mountain range, done entirely in tints of blue. "Mysticity," Hermione said to the painting. It swung inward, and Hermione stepped through it. She knew that Draco was right behind her, but she did not turn.
It took them less than a minute to figure whose corridor was whose. One of them was done in silver and green, and the other in red and gold. Crookshanks appeared from the red and gold corridor, and trotted toward Hermione.
"Hello, Crooky," she crooned, picking him up.
Draco walked toward the silver and green corridor, muttering to himself. "Goodnight," he said, a little louder, before disappearing.
He had spoken approximately three sentences to her all day. Did he really expect to get away with not talking to her? There was no way she would do all the work of the Head Boy and Girl herself. It was too much. She would have to set him straight.
Her chance did not come any time soon. They could not talk in class, due to their workload. He avoided her in the halls and everywhere else. In the dormitory, he went immediately to his room, not risking a minute in the common room to let her talk. Quite annoyed by this, Hermione decided that *she* would avoid *him*.
At the time, she did not realize just how ridiculous she was being about the whole thing.
There was one incident, a week into the term, when they almost spoke to each other. Hermione had entered the Great Hall for dinner to see a small crowd gathering. She pushed her way through, and was shocked by what she saw.
Goyle, who had never thought for himself in his entire life, was straddling Ron, his large hands encircling the redhead's neck. Ron continually brought his fist up to collide with various parts of Goyle's body, but the huge boy hung on. Ron was turning quickly from red to purple.
Suddenly Goyle was levitated off of Ron. Hermione turned to see Draco standing next to her, staring at the boy he had once called a friend. Hermione rushed the few steps to Ron's side to see if he was all right.
Professor McGonagall showed up at that very second. "What is going on here?" she demanded.
"Goyle was strangling Weasley," Draco said. "That was all I saw."
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips at the huge Slytherin. "Even you should know better than that, Goyle. You will follow me to Professor Dumbledore's office, at once. Mister Weasley- Miss Granger, would you accompany him to the hospital wing, and then to the Headmaster's office, please?"
Hermione helped Ron to his feet. He had a hand over his neck, and he was wheezing slightly. His face was twisted into an awkward grimace. "What happened to you?" Madame Pomfrey asked sternly.
"Gregory Goyle was trying to kill him. I swear. He was choking him."
"Well, I can take care of that. I do hope that other young man will get his comeuppance, then."
In another minute, Ron was able to talk again, and Madame Pomfrey sent them on their way. "Do you think he'll be expelled?" Hermione wondered aloud.
"I really hope so. But Harry and I have done much worse, and we've never been expelled."
"You and Harry never tried to *kill* another student in plain sight of everyone else."
"What about Malfoy?…Sorry."
"No, it's all right. You never intended to kill him, though. Hurt him maybe, but not kill. It looked to me like Goyle did not intend to stop until you were passed out. How did that happen?"
"You'll find out soon enough. You are Head Girl, remember?"
"No, I didn't, Ron. Thanks for reminding me."
They were let into Dumbledore's office, and they found Goyle, Draco, Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore already there. "Now that you're all here, we can begin. I would like to hear the story from both sides."
Ron's side was very angry and would have included a number of insulting swear words had no teachers been present. Goyle's side was fragmented and poorly told. What Hermione gathered was this:
Harry had just left to go to the bathroom, and Ron had given him a kiss- just a small one, but Goyle saw. When Harry was gone, Goyle began to taunt Ron. Ron taunted him back, about his father being in Azkaban and not being smart enough to coherently string to words together.
From there to the physical contact was hazy, but apparently at some point Goyle had snapped, and attacked Ron. He had ended up with his hands encircling Ron's neck tightly. Ron attempted to fight him off, but the other boy was quite large and the feat was a difficult one.
When Draco had seen them, he had used wandless magic to lift Goyle and set the two of them apart until a teacher arrived. At that time, Ron had been close to passing out, and did not remember. He could not tell the others anything about this part, but Goyle remembered suddenly being lifted and not being able to get back to his quarry.
Dumbledore listened, the usual twinkle in his eye diminished slightly. He said gravely, when they had all finished, "Thank you for your recounting of the event. Now, I would like to ask one more time, to our Head Boy and Girl. Do you think Mister Goyle would have come to his sentences of his own accord?"
Draco and Hermione looked at each other. They shook their heads simultaneously.
"Thank you. Under these circumstances, I am afraid I have no choice. Mister Goyle, I am going to have to expel you."
"But Headmaster!" Snape exploded. "Weasley was fighting too, and he provoked him. He's been crossing lines forever, after all he's done he should be expelled as well-"
"Mister Weasley was defending his life, Severus. I would expect no less. It was wrong of him to provoke another student, but even so, students are expected to exhibit good judgment and keep a rein on their tempers. Mister Goyle has not demonstrated this. He put another student in danger deliberately. We cannot allow that kind of behavior."
"Mister Goyle, for this no points will be taken from Slytherin, but you will be on the train home tomorrow. Your parents will be notified. Have your things packed as soon as you can. You will return to your dormitory now, and you will not emerge again until tomorrow morning."
"Severus, Minerva, Mister Goyle, you may leave now."
They did so, if hesitantly. Ron, Hermione, and Draco waited.
"I would like to thank you three for contributing to my decision. Without your accounts of the event I would not have been able to come to this conclusion."
"Mister Weasley, first I would like to commend you on two things. Your valiant defense of your own life, and not rising to the provocations one hears when others know that you are attracted to someone of the same gender. I know it can be hard, especially where it is not common. You know, of course, that even with the few other students who were in the Great Hall, by the end of today the entire school will know of your relationship development."
"I had thought of that," Ron said. He did not look all too happy. "We were not planning to tell yet, but I suppose having it out is better than just keeping it to ourselves."
"If you have any trouble with the other students, feel welcome to talk to me. I also must ask you to refrain from taunting students, or anyone, who would attack you with enough incentive. It is not good for your own health or for the safety of those around you."
"No problem, Professor. I think I can handle that."
"You may go, Mister Weasley. I need to have a word or two with the Head Boy and Girl."
"Thanks, Professor. See you later, Hermione."
When Ron had left, Dumbledore turned his attention on the two left in front of him.
"I just thought I would ask how you two are getting along with your duties," he said. "It can be a difficult thing, especially among two students whose Houses have been enemies for so long."
Draco and Hermione were silent for a moment. Then, Hermione said quietly, "Fine, Professor. Everything is going great."
Hermione had thought they would talk about what happened when they reached their dormitory, but Draco once again retreated to his room. Tucking Crookshanks under one arm, Hermione went into her own room.
It was rather hopeless. How were they supposed to get anything done if he would not talk to her, that was what she wanted to know. It was not good for the school to have their Head Girl and Boy not speaking.
She had to resolve this. She stood swiftly, walked to Draco's corridor, and standing just outside the entrance, called to him until he answered.
"What?"
"We have to talk."
"Not here."
"Don't give me that. We're talking, now. We have to. If not so we can get along, we have to at least work together as Head Boy and Girl. Now, you will come out here or I will make you."
"How?"
"I have ways."
Grumbling, he emerged from his room. He was wearing dark, slim-fitting jeans and no shirt. Hermione fought the urge to sigh dreamily at the sight of him, and instead tapped her foot impatiently, glaring at everything.
He stood in front of her in the common room. "Okay, well, now that I have your attention, I have something to tell you."
"You have *my* attention? You've been avoiding me all week!"
"I got my Apparition license shortly after leaving Hogwarts last year."
"Don't you dare try to blame this on me."
"I became very, very angry at my father, and I left. I've been living at the flat in London for the whole summer."
"Draco-"
"I made you a set of keys, so you can come over whenever you want. I have them in my room, I could go and get them right now."
"Ron and Harry know about us."
A thick silence prevailed for a few minutes. Hermione was waiting for Draco to respond.
"They know. They know? What, did that little-- Ginny tell them? I knew no one could trust her. Or did *you* tell them? I can't believe you did that, Hermione. We weren't telling anyone, remember? Or are you so overstuffed with information you couldn't hold any more? That's why you've been avoiding me, isn't it."
"I didn't tell them! They saw us, that day in April, on the Quidditch pitch. Your brilliant idea was not so brilliant after all. It got us caught, and then we couldn't be together."
"That's the best part," Draco fumed. "Just because your friends know, you refuse to be with me any longer. I don't see the part where everyone else's opinions come before yours, I guess I just missed it."
"You don't understand. Ron was crazy. I was afraid he would go and hurt you, or tell everyone about us."
"And it would be just *horrific* if people knew."
"You started this whole 'let's not tell anyone' thing. Now you're blaming me for everything."
"And I can take care of myself. I'm perfectly capable of defending myself from *Weasley*."
"But Draco, that is not the main thing I wanted to tell you."
"Well, you know what, Hermione? I don't care what it is. I honestly don't care what happens at this point, but we're through. That's it. I've had enough of this. And now look, I'm standing in the middle of our common room with no shirt on. This is wonderful."
He stomped off.
"Draco, wait!" Hermione was crying by then. His door had slammed shut, and no sound came from it. She sank to the floor amid her hot tears.
"I love you," she said in a sobbing whisper.
End Chapter 25
Okay, so there's…not the resolution to their problem. I hope you liked it. (Evil…I'm eeeeeevvviiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllllll…ahem).
The return of Pluggy McPluggerson: I suggest you read "The Curse That Went Awry" by Skittering Hot Magenta. It's a great story…okay, it's a story me and my friend wrote, and we made up a new pen name. There's only one chapter posted so far, but I think it's worth reading. By the way, I also highly recommend "Pick Up the Pieces". It's just so damn cool.
Review for confetti!!
Hermione had been dreading entering the prefects' compartment on the Hogwarts Express since the day she got her letter. She took a deep breath and opened the door.
A few of the prefects had arrived already, mostly the younger ones, eager to begin their duties. Hermione followed the gaze of a hopeful-eyed Slytherin girl to the corner, where Draco was sitting. Glaring at the girl, she sat in the opposite corner, waiting for the rest to show up.
When they had, she began the speech she had planned. "Welcome new prefects, welcome back old. I'm Hermione Granger, for those of you who don't know, and this is…" he made no move to introduce himself, but met her gaze evenly. "Draco Malfoy. We are the Head Boy and Girl this year. As prefects, you…"
At the end of the speech, Draco still had not spoken a word. Though she was itching to roll her eyes, she did not. What was his problem? "Now you will receive the passwords for your dormitories. I've written them on these little slips of paper. Once both of the prefects for the house has read the password, the paper will dissolve, so you had better remember them." She passed them out. "Okay, everyone got it? Good. Now, for the next forty-five minutes, you patrol the hallways, and then we'll take over. Go do your duty."
Sighing, the prefects stood, and filed out of the compartment. She walked behind them. Before leaving, she felt someone standing very close behind her. "We need to talk."
"Not here," she whispered.
"Why not? It *is* normal for the Head Boy and Girl to talk, you know. We'll have to eventually. We're alone, when would be a better time?"
Hermione looked at him, then shook her head and left the compartment. She walked depressed through the corridors, buying a pumpkin pasty off the lunch cart and eating it as she patrolled. He always had to pick the worst times to make her feel terrible.
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She didn't want to talk to him. He slowly wandered the corridors, shoulders slumped, returning to his own compartment when they had almost reached the school.
She wasn't going to talk to him. Well, fine then. He wouldn't talk to her either.
************************************************************************
As instructed, Hermione and Draco went to Professor McGonagall's office after the start of term feast to receive further instructions.
"Ah, you're here," she said briskly. "Good. Sit down. No, don't worry, this is nothing serious, but it is important, seeing as you have to know how to get into your dormitory. The password, from now up until the end of the month, is 'Mysticity'. You two will come up with the passwords for your own dorm when this password has expired. Be warned, if you tell anyone, the password will immediately be changed, and you will need to see me to find out the new password."
"I suppose it would help if I told you the location, as well. Your dorm is on the fourth floor, behind a large, blue-hued mountain landscape. It is between a picture of a woman holding a baby and a man with a sword through his stomach. I did not choose these, so if you don't like them do not complain to me."
"Now, there is one other thing you should know about your dormitory. It is set up for two people, a boy and a girl. You will share a common room, but there will be two corridors off of it leading to your rooms and separate bathrooms. You will be unable to enter each other's corridors. It is a precaution we take to ensure that no…unwanted activity occurs. I trust that you will take this as a warning, and not do anything you should not."
"There is one other thing I wanted to talk to the two of you about. I know that you have not gotten along in the past, but as Head Boy and Girl, I expect you, and Dumbledore expects you to work together, and not to set a bad example for the younger students by arguing. You will be seen to get along to others. Dumbledore had the final say in who was chosen. I do not know why he picked the two of you, but I am sure there must be a good reason. Part of that reason is that you two are the students who most deserve the privilege. I know you will take it seriously, and not abuse it. That is all, you should go to your dorms now."
Hermione turned immediately and left, taking stiff, quick steps to keep ahead of her male counterpart. *Damn, now I've passed the stairway to the fourth floor.* She took a few steps in the opposite direction and began the ascent.
In no time, they had found a large painting of a mountain range, done entirely in tints of blue. "Mysticity," Hermione said to the painting. It swung inward, and Hermione stepped through it. She knew that Draco was right behind her, but she did not turn.
It took them less than a minute to figure whose corridor was whose. One of them was done in silver and green, and the other in red and gold. Crookshanks appeared from the red and gold corridor, and trotted toward Hermione.
"Hello, Crooky," she crooned, picking him up.
Draco walked toward the silver and green corridor, muttering to himself. "Goodnight," he said, a little louder, before disappearing.
He had spoken approximately three sentences to her all day. Did he really expect to get away with not talking to her? There was no way she would do all the work of the Head Boy and Girl herself. It was too much. She would have to set him straight.
Her chance did not come any time soon. They could not talk in class, due to their workload. He avoided her in the halls and everywhere else. In the dormitory, he went immediately to his room, not risking a minute in the common room to let her talk. Quite annoyed by this, Hermione decided that *she* would avoid *him*.
At the time, she did not realize just how ridiculous she was being about the whole thing.
There was one incident, a week into the term, when they almost spoke to each other. Hermione had entered the Great Hall for dinner to see a small crowd gathering. She pushed her way through, and was shocked by what she saw.
Goyle, who had never thought for himself in his entire life, was straddling Ron, his large hands encircling the redhead's neck. Ron continually brought his fist up to collide with various parts of Goyle's body, but the huge boy hung on. Ron was turning quickly from red to purple.
Suddenly Goyle was levitated off of Ron. Hermione turned to see Draco standing next to her, staring at the boy he had once called a friend. Hermione rushed the few steps to Ron's side to see if he was all right.
Professor McGonagall showed up at that very second. "What is going on here?" she demanded.
"Goyle was strangling Weasley," Draco said. "That was all I saw."
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips at the huge Slytherin. "Even you should know better than that, Goyle. You will follow me to Professor Dumbledore's office, at once. Mister Weasley- Miss Granger, would you accompany him to the hospital wing, and then to the Headmaster's office, please?"
Hermione helped Ron to his feet. He had a hand over his neck, and he was wheezing slightly. His face was twisted into an awkward grimace. "What happened to you?" Madame Pomfrey asked sternly.
"Gregory Goyle was trying to kill him. I swear. He was choking him."
"Well, I can take care of that. I do hope that other young man will get his comeuppance, then."
In another minute, Ron was able to talk again, and Madame Pomfrey sent them on their way. "Do you think he'll be expelled?" Hermione wondered aloud.
"I really hope so. But Harry and I have done much worse, and we've never been expelled."
"You and Harry never tried to *kill* another student in plain sight of everyone else."
"What about Malfoy?…Sorry."
"No, it's all right. You never intended to kill him, though. Hurt him maybe, but not kill. It looked to me like Goyle did not intend to stop until you were passed out. How did that happen?"
"You'll find out soon enough. You are Head Girl, remember?"
"No, I didn't, Ron. Thanks for reminding me."
They were let into Dumbledore's office, and they found Goyle, Draco, Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore already there. "Now that you're all here, we can begin. I would like to hear the story from both sides."
Ron's side was very angry and would have included a number of insulting swear words had no teachers been present. Goyle's side was fragmented and poorly told. What Hermione gathered was this:
Harry had just left to go to the bathroom, and Ron had given him a kiss- just a small one, but Goyle saw. When Harry was gone, Goyle began to taunt Ron. Ron taunted him back, about his father being in Azkaban and not being smart enough to coherently string to words together.
From there to the physical contact was hazy, but apparently at some point Goyle had snapped, and attacked Ron. He had ended up with his hands encircling Ron's neck tightly. Ron attempted to fight him off, but the other boy was quite large and the feat was a difficult one.
When Draco had seen them, he had used wandless magic to lift Goyle and set the two of them apart until a teacher arrived. At that time, Ron had been close to passing out, and did not remember. He could not tell the others anything about this part, but Goyle remembered suddenly being lifted and not being able to get back to his quarry.
Dumbledore listened, the usual twinkle in his eye diminished slightly. He said gravely, when they had all finished, "Thank you for your recounting of the event. Now, I would like to ask one more time, to our Head Boy and Girl. Do you think Mister Goyle would have come to his sentences of his own accord?"
Draco and Hermione looked at each other. They shook their heads simultaneously.
"Thank you. Under these circumstances, I am afraid I have no choice. Mister Goyle, I am going to have to expel you."
"But Headmaster!" Snape exploded. "Weasley was fighting too, and he provoked him. He's been crossing lines forever, after all he's done he should be expelled as well-"
"Mister Weasley was defending his life, Severus. I would expect no less. It was wrong of him to provoke another student, but even so, students are expected to exhibit good judgment and keep a rein on their tempers. Mister Goyle has not demonstrated this. He put another student in danger deliberately. We cannot allow that kind of behavior."
"Mister Goyle, for this no points will be taken from Slytherin, but you will be on the train home tomorrow. Your parents will be notified. Have your things packed as soon as you can. You will return to your dormitory now, and you will not emerge again until tomorrow morning."
"Severus, Minerva, Mister Goyle, you may leave now."
They did so, if hesitantly. Ron, Hermione, and Draco waited.
"I would like to thank you three for contributing to my decision. Without your accounts of the event I would not have been able to come to this conclusion."
"Mister Weasley, first I would like to commend you on two things. Your valiant defense of your own life, and not rising to the provocations one hears when others know that you are attracted to someone of the same gender. I know it can be hard, especially where it is not common. You know, of course, that even with the few other students who were in the Great Hall, by the end of today the entire school will know of your relationship development."
"I had thought of that," Ron said. He did not look all too happy. "We were not planning to tell yet, but I suppose having it out is better than just keeping it to ourselves."
"If you have any trouble with the other students, feel welcome to talk to me. I also must ask you to refrain from taunting students, or anyone, who would attack you with enough incentive. It is not good for your own health or for the safety of those around you."
"No problem, Professor. I think I can handle that."
"You may go, Mister Weasley. I need to have a word or two with the Head Boy and Girl."
"Thanks, Professor. See you later, Hermione."
When Ron had left, Dumbledore turned his attention on the two left in front of him.
"I just thought I would ask how you two are getting along with your duties," he said. "It can be a difficult thing, especially among two students whose Houses have been enemies for so long."
Draco and Hermione were silent for a moment. Then, Hermione said quietly, "Fine, Professor. Everything is going great."
Hermione had thought they would talk about what happened when they reached their dormitory, but Draco once again retreated to his room. Tucking Crookshanks under one arm, Hermione went into her own room.
It was rather hopeless. How were they supposed to get anything done if he would not talk to her, that was what she wanted to know. It was not good for the school to have their Head Girl and Boy not speaking.
She had to resolve this. She stood swiftly, walked to Draco's corridor, and standing just outside the entrance, called to him until he answered.
"What?"
"We have to talk."
"Not here."
"Don't give me that. We're talking, now. We have to. If not so we can get along, we have to at least work together as Head Boy and Girl. Now, you will come out here or I will make you."
"How?"
"I have ways."
Grumbling, he emerged from his room. He was wearing dark, slim-fitting jeans and no shirt. Hermione fought the urge to sigh dreamily at the sight of him, and instead tapped her foot impatiently, glaring at everything.
He stood in front of her in the common room. "Okay, well, now that I have your attention, I have something to tell you."
"You have *my* attention? You've been avoiding me all week!"
"I got my Apparition license shortly after leaving Hogwarts last year."
"Don't you dare try to blame this on me."
"I became very, very angry at my father, and I left. I've been living at the flat in London for the whole summer."
"Draco-"
"I made you a set of keys, so you can come over whenever you want. I have them in my room, I could go and get them right now."
"Ron and Harry know about us."
A thick silence prevailed for a few minutes. Hermione was waiting for Draco to respond.
"They know. They know? What, did that little-- Ginny tell them? I knew no one could trust her. Or did *you* tell them? I can't believe you did that, Hermione. We weren't telling anyone, remember? Or are you so overstuffed with information you couldn't hold any more? That's why you've been avoiding me, isn't it."
"I didn't tell them! They saw us, that day in April, on the Quidditch pitch. Your brilliant idea was not so brilliant after all. It got us caught, and then we couldn't be together."
"That's the best part," Draco fumed. "Just because your friends know, you refuse to be with me any longer. I don't see the part where everyone else's opinions come before yours, I guess I just missed it."
"You don't understand. Ron was crazy. I was afraid he would go and hurt you, or tell everyone about us."
"And it would be just *horrific* if people knew."
"You started this whole 'let's not tell anyone' thing. Now you're blaming me for everything."
"And I can take care of myself. I'm perfectly capable of defending myself from *Weasley*."
"But Draco, that is not the main thing I wanted to tell you."
"Well, you know what, Hermione? I don't care what it is. I honestly don't care what happens at this point, but we're through. That's it. I've had enough of this. And now look, I'm standing in the middle of our common room with no shirt on. This is wonderful."
He stomped off.
"Draco, wait!" Hermione was crying by then. His door had slammed shut, and no sound came from it. She sank to the floor amid her hot tears.
"I love you," she said in a sobbing whisper.
End Chapter 25
Okay, so there's…not the resolution to their problem. I hope you liked it. (Evil…I'm eeeeeevvviiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllllll…ahem).
The return of Pluggy McPluggerson: I suggest you read "The Curse That Went Awry" by Skittering Hot Magenta. It's a great story…okay, it's a story me and my friend wrote, and we made up a new pen name. There's only one chapter posted so far, but I think it's worth reading. By the way, I also highly recommend "Pick Up the Pieces". It's just so damn cool.
Review for confetti!!