The Best Of Me Chapter 11: Troubles, a harry potter fanfic

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.

lyrics

I want to give a special shout out to **Winter Fae** for being the best Beta-reader a girl could have. :)

Oh and the song lyrics are from Cat Stevens amazing song Trouble. A really great remake of it is Kristin Hersh if anyone's wondering. You should all go listen to it! While you read this! And then everyday! Seriously, add some more culture to your life, Cat Stevens made a huge impact on the music world, so listen to why. Well, anyway, sorry for the rant, go read and REVIEW!

Chapter 11: Troubles

Trouble, oh trouble set me free.

I have seen your face

And it's too much for me today

Troubles seem to always stick with us. No matter if we want them to or not, most people can bring back the feeling they had in their gut when they had their first fight. Most people can remember when they told their first complicated lie, or the first time someone they knew died. It is something deep down inside of you, and no matter how many you have or how easily you might have gotten over some of them, you always dread when another one comes along.

Hermione did not lead the most troubled life. Or, you can say, it did not seem as if she lead one. If you ask her what troubles really are she would give you something close to the Webster's Dictionary definition. And it says, to agitate mentally or spiritually, to put into confused motion. Hermione, in most of her life, had never lived one of the definitions that she knew. But suddenly she was living this one, and she had no idea what to do.

On the other hand, most people assumed that Draco Malfoy had led a very troubled life. His dad was evil, his mother cold hearted, his family dedicated to the biggest threat to the world. And surely there were more of them, more things that no one knew that could blow their minds; yet just knowing some of them seems to give a glimpse into the boy's life. But most of the people assuming this happen to be wrong. While his life had many troubles, Draco had become so used to them being part of his life, they hardly affected him anymore.

It seems we can argue on both sides, which has it better. Is it the girl with hardly any troubles, who is not used to them in her life? Or the boy who has had so many, now he doesn't even notice them? And, when you look at it, maybe that's what brought them together. The fact that they could meet in the middle, that their two worlds could collide and maybe, possibly, in the end, bring a better life for both of them.

Two lone people walked the hallways of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for a while neither of them spoke. That is until the smaller, younger one opened her mouth.

"Professor?"

"Yes Ms. Granger."

"Um, where are we going?"

"To the Gryffindor Common Room. Why?"

"No reason, really, just wondering."

More silence followed. The elder man's thoughts running through his head about the problems he had to fix. And the younger girl had rambling questions running through hers about what was going on.

"Professor?"

"Yes Ms. Granger."

"Um, why are we going there?"

"Well, Hermione, I have been waiting for you to ask that one. We are going there so that I may help you solve a problem. We are going there so I can help something that will become monumentally worse if we let it be."

"Oh."

"Is that all you want to know Ms. Granger?"

"Well, uh, no. Professor Dumbledore, sir, what problem are you talking about?"

"The one you thought you had so perfectly hidden. You see, Hermione, I am a softy, a big romantic, and I have no problem with what has been going on in that department. My concern, on the other hand is why you have not told your best friends, and how they might react to it."

"React to what?" She asked, finally needing to know if he knew what she thought he did.

"Well, to you and Mr. Malfoy, of course, as a couple."

"Oh, well, uh, you see…" She said, sputtering about with no real way to react, "It's not exactly like that, it's very complicated and you know-", she was cut off.

"There's really no need to explain. I think it's quite romantic really, all this love-hate stuff your relationship has gone through."

"Relationship? No, no, it's not that. It's just a thing, it's an acquaintance, an um agreement."

"Ms. Granger, although I may enjoy your relationship with Mr. Malfoy, and yes that is what it is, I am not here to deal with that, as there are many other things on my plate at the moment. I am just here to try and persuade you into informing your friends on what has been going on in your life."

"But, sir, it's not that easy. You see, it's very hard to understand, they would be hurt, and for no real reason."

"That may be where you have gone wrong. Ms. Granger, if this relationship you have with him were not something real, then no one would be troubling themselves with it. If it were an unimportant fling, a mistake, or an experiment of some kind, we would not find ourselves so invested in it's future."

"Sir…"

"Now I cannot make you do anything Hermione. Not today or tomorrow or anytime in the future, but I can ask you to think about it. Think about what you will be doing to everyone, especially Draco and yourself, if you let this stay hidden. Just think about it. That's all I ask. And now, Ms. Granger, I will let you be, as I have a meeting with your 'acquaintance' Mr. Malfoy."

"Oh, okay. And Professor, I just want you to know that I'm sorry."

Dumbledore turned around to look at her, surprise in his eyes. "For what?"

"For, well," she said, spreading her arms out as she spoke, "for all of this."

"Ms. Granger, there is nothing to be sorry for. No matter what, eventually you will have to work this out. Just know that love is not something that should cause troubles. It should cause joys."

"Hermione?" she asked with the smallest of twinkles in her eyes and the tiniest of smiles on her lips. "Granger? Hermione Granger?"

"Yeah," he said, trying to stay strong under the scrutiny.

"The girl you berated, made fun of, tormented, insulted, and hated for the last six year?

That girl?"

"Yes Pansy, that girl."

Slowly the smile grew on her face, effectively hiding the tears that had fallen moments before, "That is the cutest thing I have ever heard."

Silence. They both stared at each other. His head was full of questions and hers was oddly full of mirth. And then another noise made it's way into the air, laughter. Giggles emerged from her mouth, shaking her body.

"Pansy, what is going on with you? You should be shocked, appalled, horrified. You should not think it's cute, and you should definitely not be laughing!"

"It's…it's just so funny. You were so scared, so sure I'd scream and shout and throw a tantrum. And now, now you're mad at me because I'm okay with it, heck I even think it's cute and you can't stand that," She stopped, not to breathe, but to laugh again, finally feeling happy.

Draco shouted, frustrated, throwing his hands in the air before he turned around and started walking out of the room. Saying to her over his shoulder, "If you won't discuss this like an adult then I'm leaving!"

"Fine," she said, trying to subside her laughter, "We'll discuss it."

Draco turned around as he heard her speak, he already knew what she was going to say, it was just the way Pansy worked. The frustrations were about to burst out of him; he had to talk about it. If he thought about it, he couldn't really explain why he was getting so mad at Pansy. She had reacted the perfect way, better than he ever could have imagined. It was just troubling.

He didn't know how to deal with this. Draco, he thought to himself, you are such a fool. You thought you'd dealt with it all, depressed-Pansy, angry-Pansy, vengeful-Pansy, heart-broken Pansy, the list could go on forever. Why are you so unprepared for, so scared of, the side of Pansy that's happy for you?

He would figure all of this out, he had to, it was a necessity. So he looked her in the eyes, gave her one of those but-I'm-only-doing-it-for-you kind of looks, sighed, and made his way over to her bed.

"Pans," He said as he was sitting down, "I'm really sorry about all of this."

"Drake," She said as she reached over to wrap her arms around him and lay her head against his chest, "We'll talk about that another day. Right now, can you please just tell me how in the world you fell for Hermione Granger?"

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of the great school of Hogwarts, walked down the hallways deep in thought. His mind on a situation he could never have predicted, a situation that he could not see an end, whether good or bad, for. This is why he wasn't paying attention when he bumped into someone.

"Professor?"

"Oh, oh you'll have to excuse me Mr. Potter, my mind was wandering down different hallways, making me unaware to the very one I was walking in."

"Oh it's fine, no need to worry. So where are you headed?"

"Down to the Dungeons, over to the Slytherin dorms, I have many things to take care of."

"Oh," Harry said, his shoulder sagging for he thought he might have talked to the Headmaster.

"Was there something you needed to discuss with me Harry?"

"Well, it's not really important, actually it's really none of my business. So no, nothing to discuss, I'll just head back to the common room."

"Mr. Potter, please, I promise I have a minute to spare. And it seems to me that you need to get whatever it is off of your chest."

"Yes, okay, well then. What I really need to do is ask for a favor."

The old man looked down at him with a smile on his face, "Of course, ask away."

Harry cleared his throat, "Okay, Professor, sir, I was just wondering if you could maybe cut down on the amount of work you're giving Hermione. I mean, I know she's Head Girl and she's supposed to do all this stuff, but lately she's either at meetings or in class or studying. She could hardly make it to Hogsmeade with us last weekend, and it just seems like it's getting to her, you know?" He stopped, realizing that he was rambling on.

Dumbledore nodded his head, "Yes, okay, anything else Mr. Potter?"

"I guess not, I just wanted to ask you know? Ron and I, we want our friend back, we want her to enjoy her 7th year." He said as his voice quietly broke, emotion in his words. "We just want our friend back."

"Of course Harry. It makes perfect sense. Actually you should be happy to know that I was just talking to Ms. Granger about the same thing a little while ago. I am hoping that all of this should work out for the good of everyone involved."

A smile broke across Harry's face, "Thanks a lot Professor, this really means a lot to me."

"It was no problem Mr. Potter. But if I may be excused, I think I was on my way to have a similar conversation with our dear Head Boy. Goodnight."

"Goodnight sir."

Trouble, oh trouble set me free.

I have seen your face

And it's too much for me today.

That night the rooms and halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were full of troubles. They we full of some things that were either so good or so bad no one knew what to do with them.

One girl sat in her room on her perfectly made bed, falling back on the pillows she stared up at the ceiling. Tears were falling rapidly out of her eyes. Conversations were replaying in her head. The ones with Draco from the past weeks, the ones with Ron and Harry with the pain in their words, the one with Dumbledore, they were like some stupid broken record. She was slowly becoming so afraid of what she had done she could not even fathom how she would handle it. Nothing like this had ever happened to her.

One boy made his way back to his common room. A smile was on his face, something that hadn't happened lately. Everything was going to work out. He had finally worked up the courage to talk to Dumbledore about Hermione and it had really payed off. He could see it, how happy she would be without so much work, how much fun the three of them would have together. He knew it, he just knew it, the rest of the year would be just like he had hoped.

One elderly man made his way through the hallways of his school. From the outside he looked the part of Headmaster, like he had it all together. But in his head and his heart it was a different story. He had to give a little laugh at his own expense, how had he let it come to this? It had seemed like such a good thing, why couldn't he let two people fall in love? Why he had not thought of all the consequences he didn't know. All he knew was that now, everyone would have to deal with them.

And finally, two people sat on a bed. The boy was talking, telling a story with his words and with his hands as the girl smiled and laughed at what he said. A friendship, although broken hours before, was slowly being rebuilt. It would take time to get it back to how it used to be; they both knew that, yet the hope that it would work was back. No matter what happened now at least they had each other, at least they were there for support. Seconds later the boy finished his story and, exhausted, lay down on the bed with the girl following suit. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him, and then he bent his head down and whispered something in her ear. They both laughed one more time, and then slowly fell asleep; hoping tomorrow might be a better day.

Trouble, oh trouble can't you see?

You're eating my heart away

And there's nothing much left of me.