Hey!! I like the reviews! YAY!
freakyfairy - thank you very much, I like the compliments! *smiles* you make me feel happy!!!
Alexis McLean - thanks, I try to be original, and unfortunately, sometimes it just doesn't work. I deleted an entire story before I posted it once, so, obviously I tried to be original.
Lynx - you didn't offend me, and I am willing to accept any criticism as long as it isn't meant to kill my ego! I will explain Harry and Ron's feelings toward Hermione later - they didn't just go BOOM and change.
Imperfectionist - THANKS!
Angel125 - Thank you so much.
Anyway, I had to put the notes to the reviews on this chapter, because the other two were already uploaded and I was feeling lazy. Thanks for reviewing - it makes me feel good!!!
~+~
Chapter 3
Hermione woke up before the sun had even begun to rise, and she couldn't fall back to sleep no matter how hard she tried to. Her mind seemed to be blank and she found herself thinking. She was thinking about nothing in particular, but for nothing it was sure making her angry and irritable.
Hermione decided to get dressed before the Ravenclaws in the room woke up, because she didn't want to have to endure pretending that she didn't notice them whispering about her in their private little corner and occasionally pointing to her as though she was on display. She had a whole new respect for Harry, even if she didn't like him anymore.
Now finally dressed in her school uniform and her robes loosely on her shoulders, Hermione decided to go to the Astronomy Tower, where she would most likely be alone because it was early in the morning, so it was okay. Couples weren't snogging each other, or eating each other's faces off, early in the morning, so she was certain that she would be alone.
As she walked down the lonely and cold corridor, her thoughts flickered to Draco Malfoy, because a large portion of her anger was centered on him. Why was he always so horrible to her, no matter what she did? It seemed that he was always acting the worst to her, even though everyone thought he would rather bug Harry or Ron, and even though what he said about them was terrible, what he called Hermione was the more scarring, or at least to Hermione it was.
Hermione pushed open the door to the Astronomy Tower, still completely absorbed in her thoughts. While Malfoy thought of clever and only somewhat insulting alliterations for Harry and Ron, he used a foul and insulting term for her, making her think that he disliked her more than Harry and Ron, even though she didn't think that was possible at first.
Hermione turned and leaned against the railing as she watched the giant squid swimming in the lake below her. It was so quiet, and so peaceful as it just drifted in the lake as though there was nowhere it need to be, nothing it needed to be doing. . . she could almost forget her anger and annoyance if she could just stand up here, alone, a little while longer. . .
"Come up here to snog your invisible boyfriend?" said a malicious voice behind her, and Hermione closed her eyes, willing herself not to explode with anger at the sound of the last voice she had even wanted to hear, let alone now when she was trying to sort out her anger and emotions. It would only make things worse if she decided to explode in front of him. She turned to face Malfoy with what she hoped was a neutral expression, but she couldn't be sure.
"What?" she asked heavily as she tried to steady her trembling voice because she was breathing violently in order to contain her anger, although she had the sickening feeling that she was beginning to lose the control of her anger. Willing herself to not explode, she looked at Malfoy, dislike plastered across her face.
"Nothing," he said slyly, then his smirk widened. "I just wanted to tell you not to lean over the banister like that." He said, and Hermione gave him one of her famous 'looks'. Why was he telling her to not lean over the banister - was he trying to tell her to be careful? Of course, her answer was given by his next comment.
"Seeing your face, people might think that it's Halloween." He told her, as he turned and chuckled to himself. Hermione felt anger surge through her. Why was he such a jerk - couldn't he just be nice for one second?
"It's because you look like a hag, see?" he continued, completely unaware of the emotion rampage that was taking place in Hermione.
Hermione's fists balled up in anger and she shoved them into her pockets to shield them from view. She didn't need to get into a fight with Draco Malfoy - not now, and not ever.
She was arguing with herself, telling herself that he wasn't worth it, that she shouldn't waste her energy on him, but even as she argued with herself, she could feel that she was losing, and she was starting to lose control of her temper which had risen more than it had in the last few weeks.
She turned heatedly on her heel and made to march out the door, but he grabbed her robes and made her look at him. Fuming with anger - she was sure that she was steaming visibly - she glared at Malfoy with five years worth of hatred.
"What?" she spat at him and he seemed to be surprised at her anger - she was starting to lose her temper and control of her emotions and she didn't know how much longer she could hold it in before she completely exploded.
"I just wanted to tell you that if I said anything to offend you, it was purely intentional." He said with another sneer and turned and walked away. Hermione was shaking with suppressed rage. How could he push all of her buttons that started the self-destruct sequence?
"Damn you, Malfoy." She spat as she kicked the wall and then recoiled in pain. She hated him and that was all there was to it. He knew exactly what to say and he knew exactly what to do to make her feel horrible.
~+~
Over the next few days, Hermione had to endure endless hours of listening to the Ravenclaws whisper and random girls in the hall whispering to each other about how hot and cute Draco Malfoy was, even if he was in Slytherin. To her, he was still the worthless scumbag that she had known since first year and nothing was about to change.
When she heard some girls crying over how he had insulted them and turned them down for dates just because they were Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Gryffindors, a quote that she had heard somewhere popped into her head as she thought of how they must have been feeling.
'If you kicked him in the heart, you'd break your toe.' It was true - the only heart that he had was one made of stone and it was never going to be warm. It was cold as ice and hard like the rock that it was and there was nothing or no one that could ever hope to change that.
Hermione left the sobbing girls to go be by herself while she roamed on the upper levels of the school. She just wanted to be alone, to have some time to think about everything that had been happening in her life without anyone interrupting or making her feel inferior. That was what Malfoy was for, after all.
Just in case, Hermione snuck up the stairs, just to be sure that nobody saw her or followed her. She wanted to be completely alone while she was on the roof, because she was sure that someone would mistake her being on the roof for a sign of trying to do something vain, like jump.
She had no intentions of jumping, she just wanted to sit on the roof where she was out in the cool and crisp air that seemed to help melt and wash away all of her pain and grief. She was afraid to be here at Hogwarts, especially while her dad could be dying as she was in a class.
No longer having her friends to lean on, Hermione did a lot of things on her own now. She never talked about her feelings to anyone because nobody would understand. They wouldn't understand how empty she felt, even when her mind was buzzing with all of the problems that were crowding her life and threatening to take over her entire life. She was being controlled by her emotions that she could no longer keep within her grasp, feeble as it had been, it had now died.
She thought it had been bad enough when she, Harry and Ron had stopped hanging out and were becoming less of friends, but when she had gone home after their big fight, she had also been given some more shocking news. Her father had deadly cancer and he was going to die. They didn't know when, so the element of worry was now cast into the pot. Then Viktor Krum was thrown into the picture. He had been dating four girls at one time while he was leading her on. Her, being a stupid hormonal teenager, had believed the pack of lies that he had been feeding her about loving her, and she had told him things that had unlocked the secrets of her soul, something she now regretted deeply.
He had been caught on other dates, and the Daily Prophet had posted them for weeks, saying that he was a four-timing guy and that any other girls involved with him had better clear the area, or else they were going to get hurt, but the damage had already been done. She no longer trusted guys with anything. The doctor that had told her that her father was dying was a man, her EX friends, Harry and Ron, had also been guys, and now she had been dumped by the guy that she had invested her life into and had trusted beyond all recognition.
Hermione shook her head as she tried to clear her mind from everything that had been troubling her and decided to try to focus instead on the stars that were twinkling above her head. They seemed to be detached from the universe, as though they were immune to everything that was happening below them. Hermione wished that she could be like a star and float up above all of the problems and troubles that were happening down here on earth. How amazing it would be to be able to leave everything behind and enjoy sitting there, gazing at the world below as she watched the other people going about their lives, bustling, whistling, laughing, crying.
Hermione sighed as she realized that she was dreaming of things that would never happen. She couldn't fly on a broomstick let alone on the night's sky. There was no way that she would be able to connect with the stars. Before she could stop them, tears came flooding down her cheeks as she continued thinking about everything that was happening. She wanted to be at home with her father. It could be his last night to sleep and she was holed up here, at a boarding school while she waited for the bad news to come, not knowing which would hurt her more - to know he was dead, or to not know until she came home.
Hermione drew a deep breath to steady herself as her breathing had become rugged and uneven. She missed her family, even though it wasn't the greatest family anymore. At least they loved her and she belonged with them. Hermione suddenly wondered whether she belonged here at Hogwarts anymore. Maybe she should be at home enjoying her last days with her father. After all, she had nobody here that cared about her, so going home was beginning to make more and more sense as she thought about it.
Deciding that she was going to pack a small trunk of stuff and catch the knight bus, Hermione stumbled down from the roof and somehow made it to the Gryffindor common room with no memory of actually walking to get there.
She snuck into the dormitory, as she was careful to make sure that none of the girls were woken up. She shoved the necessities into her bag that she had left in the Gryffindor room and then she snuck down to the Advanced Transfiguration dormitory to collect a few more things that she would need. With any luck she would be out of here in the next ten minutes.
When she opened the door to her dorm room (she had already wasted 15 minutes trying to tell the portrait in the front of the common room that she was in dire need of making it into the room before midnight kicked in.) she was surprised to see that all three of her room mates were up and they were all sitting on their beds, arms crossed and staring at Hermione.
She froze in the doorway. What had she done now? What could she had possibly done or said that would make them decide to look at her? None of them were whispering or pointing at her, just staring at her as she walked in. Feeling slightly nervous at this sign of attention, Hermione waved feebly.
"Hi," she said as she tried to be nice and smile, but it faded just like it had with Harry and Ron when they stared, fixedly at her and seemed to be trying to read her thoughts, invade her brain.
"Why are you so late?" one of the girls asked, and Hermione stared at her. Why did she care? Normally they were in bed at this time of night, and Hermione had assumed that tonight would be no different, but here they were, still up and waiting for her to answer.
"Um. . . I. . ." she trailed off trying to think of why she even needed to answer them, because it really was none of their business what she did, now, was it?
"We can't sleep until you're here," the only male in the room said, and he, too, seemed angry as he practically glared at Hermione, and she shifted under his gaze. She didn't like the way that he was looking at her. It reminded her too much of the way that Harry and Ron now looked at her and the way Malfoy had always looked at her - with immense dislike.
"What?" she asked as she stared at them in disbelief. How could they be so horrible to her? What had she done to them to make them hate her?
"Why are you so late?" the boy continued, as he eyed her contemptuously. "We aren't allowed to sleep until everyone is here, and you weren't here, meaning that we couldn't go to bed. WE," he gestured erratically and unnecessarily toward the two girls that were sitting on their own beds, glaring at Hermione. "Would like to know where the bloody heck you were."
"I was -" Hermione began, but she stopped again. She still didn't see how this was any of their business. Why couldn't' they go to sleep without her there? They were getting on her nerves and she didn't like they way that they were looking at her. She frowned and glared right back at them.
"I was - " Hermione said again, and she could feel the anger filling her veins and leaking into her mind. How dare they tell her what she was supposed to be thinking, feeling, saying? She was not going to be a ventriloquist dummy, she was a human and she was determined to be taken as so as one too.
"It's none of your business where I was." She said suddenly, surprising herself by her immediate rudeness. It seemed to shock her roommates who were also gazing at her with more and more dislike becoming plastered across their faces and Hermione sneered.
It was so much easier to shut herself off from the world than face anything. She could hide behind this wall, this curtain, this veil of cruel and mean comments and scathing looks that would protect her from feeling anger and pain. She would inflict the pain, not receive it. With this realization dawning upon her, Hermione had a new sense of self. She found herself smiling despite herself, but this smile seemed to be more of a sneer than a smile and she looked malicious.
Not caring what she looked like, Hermione flung herself on her bed and began pretending to sleep. When her roommates appeared to have gone to sleep, Hermione got up, packed the last few things in her trunk, and began dragging it toward the door. When she was out the door, she cast a charm on it to make it light, she bewitched it to fly, and she made it follow her out of the dormitory and down the cold stone steps.
Seven flights of stairs later, Hermione was at the doors that led out of Hogwarts, and as she approached, she saw the torches flicker as she walked past them and her shadow danced on the wall beside her.
Pushing open the doors, Hermione let the air rush around her and she walked toward the station where the Hogwarts Express normally dropped them off. From there she would summon the knight bus and it would take her back to her house where she would spend time with her family before it fell apart for good.
As she approached the station, she noticed that there was a light on in it, but she brushed this off, assuming that there was always a light on in the night so that if anyone came they would be able to see their way.
As she rounded a corner, she could see a figure leaning against the wall, as though they were waiting for someone to arrive. Hermione felt a pang as she realized that the person they could be waiting for could be her.
Undaunted, Hermione continued walking toward the station. When she made it to a large clear spot, she grabbed her wand, and she was about to fling out her right arm to flag the knight bus when she felt someone's hand close around her wrist and prevent her from flagging down the knight bus.
"What - ?" Hermione began, but she stopped abruptly as her eyes met the last person she had expected to be standing here, apparently waiting for her, and the very last person she had expected to be trying to stop her from leaving. Draco Malfoy stood, his cold grey eyes staring at her, with no hint of emotion behind them, and he seemed to be almost surprised that her eyes reflected the look in his eyes with the same feelings - nothing.
"Going somewhere, Granger?" he asked in a voice barely above a whisper and so cold that it sent a shiver down Hermione's spine.
"I WAS," Hermione said irritably as she tried to flag the bus again, but again, Malfoy was holding her arm in place as though he didn't want her to leave, but she couldn't think of any reason for him to want her to stay.
"What are you doing, Malfoy?" she almost spat at him and he didn't show any sign of anything, he was almost like a dead shell or a lifeless dummy - then again, this was probably a vast and extremely great improvement.
"Stopping you, Granger." He said. Hermione was shocked for a minute, as she could only think of good reasons for him to be stopping her, but then he spoke again and they few good thoughts that she had had about him vanished quickly.
"Do you know how much you could hurt my grade if you leave? They would have to get another student for Advanced Transfiguration and that would mean, although I hate to say these vial words, that they would bring someone that happens to be stupider than you in, meaning that all of the things we did as a team would be worse than now, even if you are a stupid, low, idiotic, Mudblood." Malfoy said this all in his slow hiss and then he released her arm where she began to rub it. There was a red mark where his hand had been, because he had had a tight hold.
Before she could spit back a retort she was gone and Hermione stood there, more confused than before and she brought up her newfound comfort. Her wall that was between her and the world rose again and she sat down at the station, head in her hands, wondering what she had done to make him stop her from leaving. Did it really have to do with grades?
Yes, a voice told her, yes. This is Malfoy. . . that would be the only reason.
A/N: Please review, I would like to have a few more reviews, that would be nice, yes. . .
freakyfairy - thank you very much, I like the compliments! *smiles* you make me feel happy!!!
Alexis McLean - thanks, I try to be original, and unfortunately, sometimes it just doesn't work. I deleted an entire story before I posted it once, so, obviously I tried to be original.
Lynx - you didn't offend me, and I am willing to accept any criticism as long as it isn't meant to kill my ego! I will explain Harry and Ron's feelings toward Hermione later - they didn't just go BOOM and change.
Imperfectionist - THANKS!
Angel125 - Thank you so much.
Anyway, I had to put the notes to the reviews on this chapter, because the other two were already uploaded and I was feeling lazy. Thanks for reviewing - it makes me feel good!!!
~+~
Chapter 3
Hermione woke up before the sun had even begun to rise, and she couldn't fall back to sleep no matter how hard she tried to. Her mind seemed to be blank and she found herself thinking. She was thinking about nothing in particular, but for nothing it was sure making her angry and irritable.
Hermione decided to get dressed before the Ravenclaws in the room woke up, because she didn't want to have to endure pretending that she didn't notice them whispering about her in their private little corner and occasionally pointing to her as though she was on display. She had a whole new respect for Harry, even if she didn't like him anymore.
Now finally dressed in her school uniform and her robes loosely on her shoulders, Hermione decided to go to the Astronomy Tower, where she would most likely be alone because it was early in the morning, so it was okay. Couples weren't snogging each other, or eating each other's faces off, early in the morning, so she was certain that she would be alone.
As she walked down the lonely and cold corridor, her thoughts flickered to Draco Malfoy, because a large portion of her anger was centered on him. Why was he always so horrible to her, no matter what she did? It seemed that he was always acting the worst to her, even though everyone thought he would rather bug Harry or Ron, and even though what he said about them was terrible, what he called Hermione was the more scarring, or at least to Hermione it was.
Hermione pushed open the door to the Astronomy Tower, still completely absorbed in her thoughts. While Malfoy thought of clever and only somewhat insulting alliterations for Harry and Ron, he used a foul and insulting term for her, making her think that he disliked her more than Harry and Ron, even though she didn't think that was possible at first.
Hermione turned and leaned against the railing as she watched the giant squid swimming in the lake below her. It was so quiet, and so peaceful as it just drifted in the lake as though there was nowhere it need to be, nothing it needed to be doing. . . she could almost forget her anger and annoyance if she could just stand up here, alone, a little while longer. . .
"Come up here to snog your invisible boyfriend?" said a malicious voice behind her, and Hermione closed her eyes, willing herself not to explode with anger at the sound of the last voice she had even wanted to hear, let alone now when she was trying to sort out her anger and emotions. It would only make things worse if she decided to explode in front of him. She turned to face Malfoy with what she hoped was a neutral expression, but she couldn't be sure.
"What?" she asked heavily as she tried to steady her trembling voice because she was breathing violently in order to contain her anger, although she had the sickening feeling that she was beginning to lose the control of her anger. Willing herself to not explode, she looked at Malfoy, dislike plastered across her face.
"Nothing," he said slyly, then his smirk widened. "I just wanted to tell you not to lean over the banister like that." He said, and Hermione gave him one of her famous 'looks'. Why was he telling her to not lean over the banister - was he trying to tell her to be careful? Of course, her answer was given by his next comment.
"Seeing your face, people might think that it's Halloween." He told her, as he turned and chuckled to himself. Hermione felt anger surge through her. Why was he such a jerk - couldn't he just be nice for one second?
"It's because you look like a hag, see?" he continued, completely unaware of the emotion rampage that was taking place in Hermione.
Hermione's fists balled up in anger and she shoved them into her pockets to shield them from view. She didn't need to get into a fight with Draco Malfoy - not now, and not ever.
She was arguing with herself, telling herself that he wasn't worth it, that she shouldn't waste her energy on him, but even as she argued with herself, she could feel that she was losing, and she was starting to lose control of her temper which had risen more than it had in the last few weeks.
She turned heatedly on her heel and made to march out the door, but he grabbed her robes and made her look at him. Fuming with anger - she was sure that she was steaming visibly - she glared at Malfoy with five years worth of hatred.
"What?" she spat at him and he seemed to be surprised at her anger - she was starting to lose her temper and control of her emotions and she didn't know how much longer she could hold it in before she completely exploded.
"I just wanted to tell you that if I said anything to offend you, it was purely intentional." He said with another sneer and turned and walked away. Hermione was shaking with suppressed rage. How could he push all of her buttons that started the self-destruct sequence?
"Damn you, Malfoy." She spat as she kicked the wall and then recoiled in pain. She hated him and that was all there was to it. He knew exactly what to say and he knew exactly what to do to make her feel horrible.
~+~
Over the next few days, Hermione had to endure endless hours of listening to the Ravenclaws whisper and random girls in the hall whispering to each other about how hot and cute Draco Malfoy was, even if he was in Slytherin. To her, he was still the worthless scumbag that she had known since first year and nothing was about to change.
When she heard some girls crying over how he had insulted them and turned them down for dates just because they were Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Gryffindors, a quote that she had heard somewhere popped into her head as she thought of how they must have been feeling.
'If you kicked him in the heart, you'd break your toe.' It was true - the only heart that he had was one made of stone and it was never going to be warm. It was cold as ice and hard like the rock that it was and there was nothing or no one that could ever hope to change that.
Hermione left the sobbing girls to go be by herself while she roamed on the upper levels of the school. She just wanted to be alone, to have some time to think about everything that had been happening in her life without anyone interrupting or making her feel inferior. That was what Malfoy was for, after all.
Just in case, Hermione snuck up the stairs, just to be sure that nobody saw her or followed her. She wanted to be completely alone while she was on the roof, because she was sure that someone would mistake her being on the roof for a sign of trying to do something vain, like jump.
She had no intentions of jumping, she just wanted to sit on the roof where she was out in the cool and crisp air that seemed to help melt and wash away all of her pain and grief. She was afraid to be here at Hogwarts, especially while her dad could be dying as she was in a class.
No longer having her friends to lean on, Hermione did a lot of things on her own now. She never talked about her feelings to anyone because nobody would understand. They wouldn't understand how empty she felt, even when her mind was buzzing with all of the problems that were crowding her life and threatening to take over her entire life. She was being controlled by her emotions that she could no longer keep within her grasp, feeble as it had been, it had now died.
She thought it had been bad enough when she, Harry and Ron had stopped hanging out and were becoming less of friends, but when she had gone home after their big fight, she had also been given some more shocking news. Her father had deadly cancer and he was going to die. They didn't know when, so the element of worry was now cast into the pot. Then Viktor Krum was thrown into the picture. He had been dating four girls at one time while he was leading her on. Her, being a stupid hormonal teenager, had believed the pack of lies that he had been feeding her about loving her, and she had told him things that had unlocked the secrets of her soul, something she now regretted deeply.
He had been caught on other dates, and the Daily Prophet had posted them for weeks, saying that he was a four-timing guy and that any other girls involved with him had better clear the area, or else they were going to get hurt, but the damage had already been done. She no longer trusted guys with anything. The doctor that had told her that her father was dying was a man, her EX friends, Harry and Ron, had also been guys, and now she had been dumped by the guy that she had invested her life into and had trusted beyond all recognition.
Hermione shook her head as she tried to clear her mind from everything that had been troubling her and decided to try to focus instead on the stars that were twinkling above her head. They seemed to be detached from the universe, as though they were immune to everything that was happening below them. Hermione wished that she could be like a star and float up above all of the problems and troubles that were happening down here on earth. How amazing it would be to be able to leave everything behind and enjoy sitting there, gazing at the world below as she watched the other people going about their lives, bustling, whistling, laughing, crying.
Hermione sighed as she realized that she was dreaming of things that would never happen. She couldn't fly on a broomstick let alone on the night's sky. There was no way that she would be able to connect with the stars. Before she could stop them, tears came flooding down her cheeks as she continued thinking about everything that was happening. She wanted to be at home with her father. It could be his last night to sleep and she was holed up here, at a boarding school while she waited for the bad news to come, not knowing which would hurt her more - to know he was dead, or to not know until she came home.
Hermione drew a deep breath to steady herself as her breathing had become rugged and uneven. She missed her family, even though it wasn't the greatest family anymore. At least they loved her and she belonged with them. Hermione suddenly wondered whether she belonged here at Hogwarts anymore. Maybe she should be at home enjoying her last days with her father. After all, she had nobody here that cared about her, so going home was beginning to make more and more sense as she thought about it.
Deciding that she was going to pack a small trunk of stuff and catch the knight bus, Hermione stumbled down from the roof and somehow made it to the Gryffindor common room with no memory of actually walking to get there.
She snuck into the dormitory, as she was careful to make sure that none of the girls were woken up. She shoved the necessities into her bag that she had left in the Gryffindor room and then she snuck down to the Advanced Transfiguration dormitory to collect a few more things that she would need. With any luck she would be out of here in the next ten minutes.
When she opened the door to her dorm room (she had already wasted 15 minutes trying to tell the portrait in the front of the common room that she was in dire need of making it into the room before midnight kicked in.) she was surprised to see that all three of her room mates were up and they were all sitting on their beds, arms crossed and staring at Hermione.
She froze in the doorway. What had she done now? What could she had possibly done or said that would make them decide to look at her? None of them were whispering or pointing at her, just staring at her as she walked in. Feeling slightly nervous at this sign of attention, Hermione waved feebly.
"Hi," she said as she tried to be nice and smile, but it faded just like it had with Harry and Ron when they stared, fixedly at her and seemed to be trying to read her thoughts, invade her brain.
"Why are you so late?" one of the girls asked, and Hermione stared at her. Why did she care? Normally they were in bed at this time of night, and Hermione had assumed that tonight would be no different, but here they were, still up and waiting for her to answer.
"Um. . . I. . ." she trailed off trying to think of why she even needed to answer them, because it really was none of their business what she did, now, was it?
"We can't sleep until you're here," the only male in the room said, and he, too, seemed angry as he practically glared at Hermione, and she shifted under his gaze. She didn't like the way that he was looking at her. It reminded her too much of the way that Harry and Ron now looked at her and the way Malfoy had always looked at her - with immense dislike.
"What?" she asked as she stared at them in disbelief. How could they be so horrible to her? What had she done to them to make them hate her?
"Why are you so late?" the boy continued, as he eyed her contemptuously. "We aren't allowed to sleep until everyone is here, and you weren't here, meaning that we couldn't go to bed. WE," he gestured erratically and unnecessarily toward the two girls that were sitting on their own beds, glaring at Hermione. "Would like to know where the bloody heck you were."
"I was -" Hermione began, but she stopped again. She still didn't see how this was any of their business. Why couldn't' they go to sleep without her there? They were getting on her nerves and she didn't like they way that they were looking at her. She frowned and glared right back at them.
"I was - " Hermione said again, and she could feel the anger filling her veins and leaking into her mind. How dare they tell her what she was supposed to be thinking, feeling, saying? She was not going to be a ventriloquist dummy, she was a human and she was determined to be taken as so as one too.
"It's none of your business where I was." She said suddenly, surprising herself by her immediate rudeness. It seemed to shock her roommates who were also gazing at her with more and more dislike becoming plastered across their faces and Hermione sneered.
It was so much easier to shut herself off from the world than face anything. She could hide behind this wall, this curtain, this veil of cruel and mean comments and scathing looks that would protect her from feeling anger and pain. She would inflict the pain, not receive it. With this realization dawning upon her, Hermione had a new sense of self. She found herself smiling despite herself, but this smile seemed to be more of a sneer than a smile and she looked malicious.
Not caring what she looked like, Hermione flung herself on her bed and began pretending to sleep. When her roommates appeared to have gone to sleep, Hermione got up, packed the last few things in her trunk, and began dragging it toward the door. When she was out the door, she cast a charm on it to make it light, she bewitched it to fly, and she made it follow her out of the dormitory and down the cold stone steps.
Seven flights of stairs later, Hermione was at the doors that led out of Hogwarts, and as she approached, she saw the torches flicker as she walked past them and her shadow danced on the wall beside her.
Pushing open the doors, Hermione let the air rush around her and she walked toward the station where the Hogwarts Express normally dropped them off. From there she would summon the knight bus and it would take her back to her house where she would spend time with her family before it fell apart for good.
As she approached the station, she noticed that there was a light on in it, but she brushed this off, assuming that there was always a light on in the night so that if anyone came they would be able to see their way.
As she rounded a corner, she could see a figure leaning against the wall, as though they were waiting for someone to arrive. Hermione felt a pang as she realized that the person they could be waiting for could be her.
Undaunted, Hermione continued walking toward the station. When she made it to a large clear spot, she grabbed her wand, and she was about to fling out her right arm to flag the knight bus when she felt someone's hand close around her wrist and prevent her from flagging down the knight bus.
"What - ?" Hermione began, but she stopped abruptly as her eyes met the last person she had expected to be standing here, apparently waiting for her, and the very last person she had expected to be trying to stop her from leaving. Draco Malfoy stood, his cold grey eyes staring at her, with no hint of emotion behind them, and he seemed to be almost surprised that her eyes reflected the look in his eyes with the same feelings - nothing.
"Going somewhere, Granger?" he asked in a voice barely above a whisper and so cold that it sent a shiver down Hermione's spine.
"I WAS," Hermione said irritably as she tried to flag the bus again, but again, Malfoy was holding her arm in place as though he didn't want her to leave, but she couldn't think of any reason for him to want her to stay.
"What are you doing, Malfoy?" she almost spat at him and he didn't show any sign of anything, he was almost like a dead shell or a lifeless dummy - then again, this was probably a vast and extremely great improvement.
"Stopping you, Granger." He said. Hermione was shocked for a minute, as she could only think of good reasons for him to be stopping her, but then he spoke again and they few good thoughts that she had had about him vanished quickly.
"Do you know how much you could hurt my grade if you leave? They would have to get another student for Advanced Transfiguration and that would mean, although I hate to say these vial words, that they would bring someone that happens to be stupider than you in, meaning that all of the things we did as a team would be worse than now, even if you are a stupid, low, idiotic, Mudblood." Malfoy said this all in his slow hiss and then he released her arm where she began to rub it. There was a red mark where his hand had been, because he had had a tight hold.
Before she could spit back a retort she was gone and Hermione stood there, more confused than before and she brought up her newfound comfort. Her wall that was between her and the world rose again and she sat down at the station, head in her hands, wondering what she had done to make him stop her from leaving. Did it really have to do with grades?
Yes, a voice told her, yes. This is Malfoy. . . that would be the only reason.
A/N: Please review, I would like to have a few more reviews, that would be nice, yes. . .