The Best Of Me
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in affiliation with Harry Potter or JKR. Nor do I own the song The Best Of Me by The Starting Line.
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lyrics
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I want to give a special shout out to **Winter Fae** and **Draco'a Draca** for being the best Beta-readers a girl could have. :)
**A special note to all my readers** Please, if you read this chapter, review. It would mean so much to me. I really want to know if people are reading my story and what they think. It absolutely makes my day every time I get a review. So PLEASE if you read this chapter, and even if you hate it, drop me a note. Okay? Thanks bunches! I love all of you! :)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: So one of my wonderful beta-readers, Fae, mentioned something to me last time that really stuck with me. She said that when I casually dropped Ron in last chapter, she was surprised to see him. That it was like they weren't part of the story. And I hadn't even realized it. So, this chapter is a look at FIVE different people and what they think about what's going on and what's going on with them. Harry, Ron, Pansy, Hermione and Draco. Although the last two are basically combined. I hope you like it; I actually think it went really well. And also PLEASE REVIEW!!!
Chapter 7: A View from another Angle
During great times in our lives we sometimes forget the people that are there everyday. We want to live in the moment we have created, the one we have found. We never stop to remember the people closest to us as we pull another one in.
There are many cases of this in the world we live in today. Friends leave, families lose touch, relationships end. Romeo and Juliet forgot about their families; Marc Antony and Cleopatra left their counties behind; Pacey and Joey forgot about Dawson. It's human behavior, and it slowly but surely started happening to one Hermione Granger and one Draco Malfoy.
This is one thing people ask about when Hermione and Draco tell their story now. They wonder where their friends were and what they thought about the budding relationship. And, as one might expect, neither Hermione nor Draco know, for at the time more important things were on their minds.
Yet the people they so innocently forgot about were still there. They still had lives of their own to lead. And also, they started noticing things. Not figuring them out, no, for not even Hermione or Draco had done that yet. But maybe they did notice something. Maybe.
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Jumping to conclusions…
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Harry Potter strolled down the hallways of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with an air of confidence around him. His best friend Ron Weasley flanked his right side. And on his left, surprisingly, there was no one. It had been like this for a few days. Well, if he actually thought about it, it had been like this for weeks. Yet it was not everyday, no it was more sporadic. Every couple of days Miss Hermione Granger was missing from his left side.
It felt empty without her, as if an actual part of him was missing. For as long as he could remember it had been the three of them, The Golden Trio. They each had their own signature roles to play in the friendship. He was the leader, not because he chose it, but because it was assumed. He was the famed boy who lived. She, Hermione, was the brains, and she was proud of it. She was always solving the problems and devising the plans. She was the epitome of 'bookworm' and 'smart girl'. Ron, he was the trusty sidekick, always there when you needed him. He also provided the comic relief in most of the situations they ended up in, and in their daily life.
Harry saw him standing in the hallways and felt the anger boil within him. Draco Malfoy, the poison in Harry's happy life at Hogwarts.
"Malfoy," He spat as he walked by. Glaring at the ebony haired boy and hoping he would get some reaction out of him, he always did. Yet this time seemed somewhat different.
Draco raised his eyes and Harry saw some unusual emotions in them. The malice was there, of course, along with the hatred, but also an amusement of some sort. It was like Malfoy knew something that Harry didn't. And with a tiny curve of a smile on his ever-present smirk he said, "Potter".
As Harry walked away he felt it. The guilt that sometimes nagged him when he was around Draco. Couldn't things ever be different? It wasn't like Harry liked the guy, no he basically couldn't stand him, but sometimes he wished that when he thought of Malfoy he wasn't always so full of hate all the time.
But it couldn't change, for years meetings between them had always been like this. The thought of actually trying to be nice, trying to be different seemed crazy to them. They were enemies, and in their eyes and the eyes of the school, that was how it should be.
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Made me fall away from you…
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Ronald Weasley was sitting in the Gryffindor common room when Harry came running up to him. He knew what his friend was going to ask, if not the specifics, than the fact that it would be a request of some sort. Ron knew he would do it to; he would never turn down a good friend in need. And sure enough there it came.
"Ron," Harry sighed as he sat next to his friend on the couch. "Do you think you could write my Transfiguration essay for me? I completely forgot to do it and I still have to do Charms and Muggle Studies AND I have to work on the strategy for the next match."
"Uh, I don't know Harry…" Ron trailed off, he knew he would say yes, but sometimes he just felt like putting up a fight.
"Oh come on Ron! I know you've already done it. It should be a piece of cake for you, just change yours a little and sign my name on it."
"Fine. But you know you totally owe me now."
"Yeah, I know. Thanks man, you are the greatest. Seriously, sometimes I don't know what I would do without you."
"Oh whatever, if it had been Hermione instead of me sitting here you would have just asked her instead."
"Yeah, maybe. But who knows, I mean, 'Mione's never around anymore anyway."
"You're right," Ron said sadly. "I guess all the work and the Head Girl duties are making her really busy."
"Yeah…" Harry said as his mind wandered into another thought.
"Sometimes I just miss her you know? It feels so different when we only see her at classes and meals. We never just hang out anymore," Ron said as he opened his heart up to his best friend.
"Yeah, yeah man, I know. But, uh, I'm going to go okay? I just had some great ideas to use against the Hufflepuffs. See you later. Oh and thanks man, you're my hero."
And there Ron sat, with his books in his lap and his heart a little more broken inside. Yet sometimes, strength comes from sadness, whether it should or not. So Ron hurried to get his Transfiguration essay out and started working on Harry's. For surely if he was there for Harry then Harry would be there for him. Even if it didn't seem like 'Mione or Harry ever were.
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…when you were gone
and so alone…
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Pansy Pricilla Parkinson sat down on the stool in front of her mirror and glanced at herself. To her, everything seemed perfect. Hair perfectly styled, makeup perfectly placed, it was all there. And yet on the inside it was nowhere near that way.
She would get up soon, she would compose herself, and she would go down to dinner. There she would see Draco Malfoy, her boyfriend. Just like always she would sit herself down next to him and she would try as hard as she could to get him to see her how he should. But don't forget that she, of course, was no fool. She knew he didn't love her, even like her really. And her feelings for him were nothing of the extreme sort either. The relationship they had was just a pretense, a defense mechanism they had agreed upon that day he found her crying in the common room. But sometimes she just wanted him to look at her with that spark in his eyes. With something.
Draco wasn't even there for her anymore. He had never wanted to go out with her, he made that clear to everyone, and although his words hurt sometimes, they still had a pact. He would protect her. It was chivalry at it's finest, or it's worst depending on how you looked at it.
But things were different lately. He wasn't there when he knew he should be. He was happier now, and this shouldn't bother her. She wanted him to be happy, she wanted everyone to be happy, but she didn't know why he was. She couldn't figure it out, nothing this year was really different. But there was something, she knew it. And there was one thing she feared, because whatever it was, Draco would still be there for her, unless, it was love.
"Pansy!" She heard someone yell from the hallway. "Come on!"
"I'm coming!" She yelled. "Just give me one more minute."
A tear slowly slid down her cheek and with one quick trail ruined hours of hard work. She hardly noticed. Other things were on her mind.
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The worst is over
You can have the best of me.
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Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy stood in an alcove close to the Great Hall. Dinner was starting soon, yet neither of them wanted to go, wishing only for a few more moments with the other. Their hands were entwined and he was playing with them. Swinging them over his head until she was practically on her toes, and then swinging them back down.
"Draco, Draco, Draco," She laughed. "You have to stop. Someone is bound to notice us."
"Well, 'Mione, I just don't care."
"Come on, don't be stupid."
"Oh, I'm not stupid," He said slowly as his head moved towards hers.
Last week had been the first kiss and there hadn't been one since. It seemed that both of them were to busy with schoolwork and actual Head business to spend any time together. Yet all the time spent apart had been filled with thoughts of the other.
"Drake…" She whispered, a shortened form of his name slipping out when she wasn't paying attention, "Let's not do this now."
He looked up at her, batting his eyelashes and pouting his lips, "Why not?"
"Because, we have to know what were doing okay? We have to talk about this." She looked deep into his eyes and brushed some of the hair away from his face, "'Cause Drake, if we do this, we can never go back. Everything will change, you know? And I'm a little sacred of that."
He saw the fear in her eyes. The fear that he would reject her, let her go, and Malfoy, he would have. But Draco, he wasn't really ready to do that yet. So he pulled her closer to him, buried his face in her hair, and then he let go. As he turned around to head to the feast awaiting him in the next room he called to her over his shoulder.
"'Mione, I, well, uh…" He stumbled, and then, in his most serious tone he said, "I'm a little scared too."
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Our world can be dreadfully sad sometimes. Things happen that don't seem fair. That two boys from different worlds can never be friends once they start as enemies. That one boy who is always there for people, will always feel left out. That a girl who tries as hard as she can to be perfect, will never be loved like she wants so be. That two people, a boy and a girl, who just might be destined for each other, will never be accepted as one.
Sometimes, things are just sad. No matter what world you live in. Or whom you know and whom you love. Or what you have and what you need. No matter what.
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Thank You's
PinkTribeChick- Thanks for the review! And I do love the encouragement! ;) I hope this next chapter meets your expectations.
ReeMarie Yukimo LeBeau- Again, I'm so glad you keep reviewing and staying with the story.
Mel B- Thank you So much. I was so excited that someone for FF came and read my fic. I can't believe you added me to your favorite list! Yay! I hope you like the next one.
Mara- Thanks for the review. And I'm with you, hoping they fall in love. ;)
BebopQueen- I love the song too. I hope this chapter helped clear things up about Pansy. And I hope you like it.
Devotchka92- I'm so happy my story makes you feel like you're falling in love. That is the greatest compliment ever! :)
Stefy- Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like it.
Slick- Aww you made me blush! A career in writing? I love you! Oh and thanks for the review!
**Please give some nice long reviews and TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!!! Thanks! I love all of you!**