Darkmoon of Shadows - Thanky thanky. I liked the "Battle of Wits" as well,
and that took me some thought *GASP* to come up with it. I hope I posted
this chapters soon enough for you to read before you left!!!
Tanuki-Hime - Hmm. . . you have an interesting s/n. . . Thanks for the compliments and do NOT worry. I have every intention of finishing this story.
blueamber - LOL. I am sorry if it becomes 47 hours and 50 minutes of agony, but that is just the way it might have to be. =( I have been keeping schedule as of now, and I hope I can tomorrow.
willowfairy - Oh, okay, good. As long as you only torture me. . . =0 Dun dun dun ! I got someone hooked! And it's not on phonics. (I just entered SUPER Lamesville. . . or maybe it was Dorkville. . .)
Eleanor Branstone - thanks! Yup, yup. Things are starting to get better for Hermione, but I'm sure she isn't too fond of her tattoo. . .
starz-n-tearz - You're frustrated? Oh my. . . He's still being horrible because I've read stories where Draco is suddenly "nice dude" and he has completely changed and that would never happen.
freakyfairy - You like the argument? COOL! I mean. . . okay. . . Thanks for the compliment, you maketh meth feeleth goodeth.
Purple Spotted Hedwig - Now what reason would I have for everything to be perfect? And, there will be more with Anamagaii (or whatever. . . I'll check it later) in the next chapter.
Imperfectionist - LOL, yes, so do I and I can't believe Saquoia made them be around each ot - oh, right. . . I'M Saquoia. . . =D
Alright, I just wanted to ask whether everyone thought that I was doing a good job of portraying Malfoy, because sometimes I don't think I did very well, so just tell me what you think, enjoy the chappy and review!!!
--Saquoia--
~+~
Chapter 9
Hermione stared out the window as she woke up with the sun. This was the last day of the Christmas holidays and it had been the worst Christmas holiday she had ever had. She got the usual pity gifts from the Weasleys and she got some books from Harry and Ron that they seemed to have bought in another attempt to apologize for everything that they had done lately, but Hermione didn't need presents. All she needed were her friends, who were currently having the time of their lives at the Burrow, enjoying Christmas, without her, opening wonderful gifts.
Hermione thought about the ugly socks that Dobby had given her and the miscellaneous presents that had been given to her, all of which didn't mean anything to her. Nothing was given to her with thought or care, just with guilt or necessity, which made her feel even worse.
In fact, the highlight of her present opening had been the exploding necklace, which had been given to her by one of the Ravenclaw freaks, that she threw into the garbage and it had ignited the can, causing her to be greatly relieved that she had decided not to chance opening the package. So far, her Christmas composed of five people - Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Professor Trelawney, Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout, and she hadn't spoken to any of them.
Hermione had yet to see a student that was still at the castle, and she had an uncanny feeling that people were avoiding her, and it probably had something to do with the tattoo that was across her forehead, which she had been trying to hide with anything she could think of - make up, hair, magic - but nothing seemed to be able to hide it and she was sure that she was going to murder Malfoy the second she saw his sneering face near hers again.
She sighed - sometimes she felt sorry for Malfoy, and sometimes she wanted to strangle him just to watch him turn purple. It was like he was two completely different people. In one hand he was the poor Draco Malfoy who deserved to be pitied because his life was centered around money and looks rather than anything important in the long run and the only friends that he could obtain were ugly, troll-like thugs that couldn't spell their way out of a box, and in the other hand there was the sneering, smirking face of a too pampered jerk that didn't deserve a second glance let alone a feeling of pity or any emotion other that pure anger and disgust.
"Some day I'll stop thinking about him." Hermione muttered as she closed her eyes for a few brief seconds, remembering how much had happened to her in a few short years.
Hermione rolled out of bed, leaving her pajamas on, even though the pants were hugging her hips and the t-shirt was hanging off one shoulder, and walked over to the window and just stared out it as she watched the sun rising over the mountains that were barely visible over the Forbidden Forest.
She had always enjoyed watching things out of the vast windows in the Hogwarts castle - every window was like a new adventure and she knew that this was true, seeing as she lived in a place full of magic, witches and wizards she didn't find anything hard to believe anymore.
As she glanced back at the forest, Hermione felt a jolt in her stomach and craned closer to the window to look out of it.
Hermione squinted as she saw a black figure flying over the forest, but brushed it off as a bird as she turned and decided that she would get some breakfast in the Great Hall as she heard her stomach rumble, telling her that it was definitely time to go and eat something, and soon.
Still not bothering to get dressed, she put her school robe over her pajamas and walked down the stairs of the Advanced Transfiguration dormitory to make her way to the Great Hall.
On her way down, she ran into Professor Snape, who didn't even notice her or dock points and he continued on his way muttering something about "Mister Malfoy" and Hermione couldn't have cared less. As long as Snape was preoccupied, she wouldn't have to keep her guard up.
As she made her way down to the greatly un - crowded Great Hall, she heard more people talking about Malfoy and wondered what the deal was about the whole deal. Nobody seemed to talk about him whenever he was here, but now he wasn't here and everyone was talking about him as though he were the hottest thing to talk about since the idiot on the front of the latest Crush magazine.
Curious now, Hermione continued walking to the Great Hall and she saw the figure that she had seen over the Forbidden Forest coming closer to the castle, and she now saw that it was a person that was almost falling off their broomstick. Hermione gasped and ran over to the window that she was closest to.
The figure, although she couldn't see their hair or any other feature, was being followed by large creatures that she had never seen before, and she was extremely glad she had never seen them before. They looked somewhat like enormous birds, but they had rotting flesh faces and their beaks glowed in an eerie way. Their wings were skeletal and also seemed to be decaying and their eyes were blood red, as though their faces were the face of hate.
Hermione blasted the window open with her wand and screamed out it at the figure that she was sure had not seen the creatures behind them. She didn't care who was there because all she knew was that she didn't want to watch someone die in front of her face, she didn't know if she would be able to bear it.
"HEY!" she yelled, but the figure didn't turn, and Hermione was afraid that they couldn't hear her, and all the while the creatures were advancing, getting closer to their meal that they were planning, and Hermione's mind screamed at her to do something, anything, to keep the person from being eaten.
"WATCH OUT!" She screamed as loud as her throat and lungs would allow her to as she sent a flurry of exploding sparks into the air and apparently her voice had carried well or the sparks had caught their immediate attention, because the figure whipped around and sent a blast of light at the creatures, which sent them reeling in the opposite direction, burning and exploding into crisps as they did so.
Hermione sighed in relief. She didn't have to watch someone die, she had helped save them. And then she watched as the figure landed on the ground and stood up, as they slowly walked to the castle. The person finally tripped and fell down, and they were close enough for Hermione to see their face.
Draco Malfoy lay there, in the snow, unmoving. Hermione looked around, waiting for someone to go and help him, but nobody seemed to see that he was there. She didn't know what to do, so she pulled her robes around herself and set out at a run toward the doors of the Entrance Hall, but felt an arm grab around her waist and she lost her breath.
Trying to regain her breath, Hermione felt herself dropped to the ground as feet rushed past her head. Hermione blinked a few times as she raised her head. The doors to the entrance of Hogwarts were open and three teachers, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and Professor Durmnov (the new Runes teacher) were all rushing out around Malfoy.
Hermione watched as they levitated him and walked in past her, taking him to the hospital wing. Hermione sat up and rubbed her ribs where the person's arms had grabbed her and walked to the Great Hall, wondering why she had been so quick to try to help Malfoy.
It was instinct, she told herself, although she knew that she didn't believe herself one, single, bit.
~+~
As Hermione walked down the halls, she thought about Malfoy and his immediate surprise entry to the Hogwarts castle, yet she wondered why all of the teachers had seemed to have known that he was coming back. At least, that was what she had assumed, but she wasn't one hundred percent positive that they had known, as it was only an assumption, but in the past, her assumptions had been correct or very close to correct, so she didn't question the thought.
Hermione found herself wondering why he had come to Hogwarts early, and on a broomstick too. Why hadn't he just come on the train the next day like every other student was going to? Why had he come back here now?
Why hadn't he come back with the rest of the students, safe and sound, but decided to come to Hogwarts a day early with wounds that suggested something horrible had happened to him before he made it here, because his injuries were too severe to have been caused by a broomstick accident.
He had looked absolutely horrible and a little worse for the wear and as though he had been attacked or something, which brought another question to Hermione's mind instantly.
She closed her eyes as she remembered what she had seen.
And why were those creatures chasing him? Hermione was sure that she had never seen them and she had even gone to the library to look them up, but found nothing about them, which worried Hermione, not only about Malfoy, but the general population of Hogwarts.
These creatures were obviously dark creatures, and unidentifiable dark creatures, loose on the Hogwarts grounds was not something that would be looked upon as luck. Hermione wondered whether they were sent to do something, or if it was a fluke and they didn't normally come around this part of the world.
She didn't want to know what the creatures were, and Hermione wondered whether the creatures should have existed at all. They seemed to be extremely dangerous, and she wondered if they were illegal creations or legal yet highly dangerous lab animals that were concocted to be used for evil.
Hmm. . . Despite the fact that she was trying to stay out of control- freak zone, she didn't think that she could go much longer without understanding what was happening around the castle.
She found herself wondering whether Malfoy was alright and if the creatures had hurt him before he got to Hogwarts, because he had some nasty cuts that she had seen and he had looked absolutely exhausted as he attempted to fly toward the castle, and it made Hermione wonder what had happened to him before he came to the Hogwarts school castle. Was he here because it was the 'safe zone' for him, or was it some other reason? Perhaps his father and mother had important evil business to attend to.
Yes, Hermione convinced herself, that was what happened. They had to go to some Voldemort convention.
The only reason she believed this was because she had had experience with the Malfoys and she knew that there was not a drop of conscience or kindness in the Malfoy family, as she had had much experience with Draco Malfoy and had no intention of believing that he wasn't evil.
~+~
Hermione had retreated to the Advanced Transfiguration dormitory common room with a large mug of hot cocoa in her hand, and was curled up on the couch with a book in her arms, but was torn from her ring of concentration when someone stumbled into the common room and collapsed on the couch.
Hermione looked up and saw the figure of Draco Malfoy lying, slumped on the couch, and she was surprised to note that he hadn't insulted her or even acknowledged that she was there.
She stood up to leave and caught sight of his face. Apparently Madam Pomfrey hadn't been there, because she was out with someone in the Bahamas, because his face was covered in bruises and scratches, and she had a feeling that they had nothing to do with the broom ride to Hogwarts.
She walked slowly toward him, and took a deep breath, trying to make sure that she didn't sound rude or nosy when she spoke.
"M-Malfoy?" she said quietly, and when he turned to look at her, she realized that he had many scratches and bruises, just on his face alone and she didn't want to know how badly he was hurt.
She was instantly told that it was worse when he didn't insult her or make any fun of her. She felt concern fill her mind and it was the first time that she had begun to regard Malfoy as a true human.
"What happened . . . to your . . .face?" she asked slowly and quietly. Malfoy seemed to be pretending that he hadn't heard her and Hermione couldn't decide whether she should be worried or angry.
"Please answer me, please?" she tried again, but he didn't answer and Hermione was beginning to feel annoyed. Why wasn't he willing to answer her?
Malfoy didn't look at her, and she could have sworn that he moved away from her slightly, as though he was avoiding her and all rational though left Hermione's mind.
Anger was starting to dominate the emotions and Hermione was desperate to make him answer her before she exploded in his face, because, despite how she had always acted before, she didn't want to make him look or feel any worse than he appeared to look and feel already.
Hermione decided to take a chance and do something she hadn't ever though she would catch herself doing no matter what happened, but she somehow felt that at this moment all of her other thoughts weren't important now as she watched Malfoy look so miserable.
Watching him makes me wonder about him. . . Hermione thought as she took a deep breath and began talking again.
". . . Draco. . . What's wrong?" she said this in an almost whisper, but it was more effective at getting his attention than yelling or exploding could have ever been. When he looked at her, his *cough* pink eyes looked like she had never seen them (completely ignoring that fact that they were PINK).
His eyes seemed to show a portal into the depths of his soul, his most guarded secrets, they seemed to show something that he should have never been capable of feeling - fear. He was afraid of something, but he didn't make any move to tell her or explain anything, and Hermione felt her female instincts taking over.
Here was this poor, helpless boy here, and when she looked at him she no longer saw a cruel and cunning 15-year-old, but a lost and forlorn 6- year-old staring at her through Malfoy's eyes.
Hermione felt as she had never felt before. She had never expected to think and look at Draco Malfoy the way she was right now. She felt different about him, as though she had never met him before.
She felt the urge to hug him, to comfort him, to whisper in his ear comforting words that would make him relax and smile. Make him hate her even. Something to rid her of this Draco Malfoy that she knew nothing about. It scared her to think that he could be something completely different than she had always assumed.
When he didn't answer, Hermione decided to try and push her luck one more time, and she wasn't prepared for what he did next, which totally threw down her shield that she had raised and made her heart melt.
"Will, you. . . at least. . . LOOK at me?" Hermione asked, thinking that the next look she got was going to be a death glare, or perhaps another look which contained venom and pure hate that was directed straight at her, something that showed years of dislike and rage.
Malfoy turned to look her dead in the eyes, and she could see his eyes were shining and his face wasn't contorted into a look of rage, it was a look of sadness. He looked like a lost puppy, or that kitten that wants its mother. Hermione's heart melted even more than before and she felt her mind screaming, "THIS IS MALFOY." While her instincts were screaming, "Aww . . . look how sad and alone he looks . . ." and it was true. For the first time in Hermione's life, she saw that Draco Malfoy, the utter and complete jackass and conceited bully of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, looked completely alone.
His shining eyes were now leaking, and Hermione saw that Draco Malfoy was now showing the greatest weakness of all. He was crying.
Draco Malfoy COULD and WAS crying.
~+~
HAHAHA! Cliffhanger!!! Please review and I am proud of myself for staying on schedule. (This chappy was written in 2 ½ hours, don't be too mean to it, a'ight?) Sorry it's shorter than normal.
Please don't fret - Draco hasn't turned to some emotional nice dude.
Tanuki-Hime - Hmm. . . you have an interesting s/n. . . Thanks for the compliments and do NOT worry. I have every intention of finishing this story.
blueamber - LOL. I am sorry if it becomes 47 hours and 50 minutes of agony, but that is just the way it might have to be. =( I have been keeping schedule as of now, and I hope I can tomorrow.
willowfairy - Oh, okay, good. As long as you only torture me. . . =0 Dun dun dun ! I got someone hooked! And it's not on phonics. (I just entered SUPER Lamesville. . . or maybe it was Dorkville. . .)
Eleanor Branstone - thanks! Yup, yup. Things are starting to get better for Hermione, but I'm sure she isn't too fond of her tattoo. . .
starz-n-tearz - You're frustrated? Oh my. . . He's still being horrible because I've read stories where Draco is suddenly "nice dude" and he has completely changed and that would never happen.
freakyfairy - You like the argument? COOL! I mean. . . okay. . . Thanks for the compliment, you maketh meth feeleth goodeth.
Purple Spotted Hedwig - Now what reason would I have for everything to be perfect? And, there will be more with Anamagaii (or whatever. . . I'll check it later) in the next chapter.
Imperfectionist - LOL, yes, so do I and I can't believe Saquoia made them be around each ot - oh, right. . . I'M Saquoia. . . =D
Alright, I just wanted to ask whether everyone thought that I was doing a good job of portraying Malfoy, because sometimes I don't think I did very well, so just tell me what you think, enjoy the chappy and review!!!
--Saquoia--
~+~
Chapter 9
Hermione stared out the window as she woke up with the sun. This was the last day of the Christmas holidays and it had been the worst Christmas holiday she had ever had. She got the usual pity gifts from the Weasleys and she got some books from Harry and Ron that they seemed to have bought in another attempt to apologize for everything that they had done lately, but Hermione didn't need presents. All she needed were her friends, who were currently having the time of their lives at the Burrow, enjoying Christmas, without her, opening wonderful gifts.
Hermione thought about the ugly socks that Dobby had given her and the miscellaneous presents that had been given to her, all of which didn't mean anything to her. Nothing was given to her with thought or care, just with guilt or necessity, which made her feel even worse.
In fact, the highlight of her present opening had been the exploding necklace, which had been given to her by one of the Ravenclaw freaks, that she threw into the garbage and it had ignited the can, causing her to be greatly relieved that she had decided not to chance opening the package. So far, her Christmas composed of five people - Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Professor Trelawney, Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout, and she hadn't spoken to any of them.
Hermione had yet to see a student that was still at the castle, and she had an uncanny feeling that people were avoiding her, and it probably had something to do with the tattoo that was across her forehead, which she had been trying to hide with anything she could think of - make up, hair, magic - but nothing seemed to be able to hide it and she was sure that she was going to murder Malfoy the second she saw his sneering face near hers again.
She sighed - sometimes she felt sorry for Malfoy, and sometimes she wanted to strangle him just to watch him turn purple. It was like he was two completely different people. In one hand he was the poor Draco Malfoy who deserved to be pitied because his life was centered around money and looks rather than anything important in the long run and the only friends that he could obtain were ugly, troll-like thugs that couldn't spell their way out of a box, and in the other hand there was the sneering, smirking face of a too pampered jerk that didn't deserve a second glance let alone a feeling of pity or any emotion other that pure anger and disgust.
"Some day I'll stop thinking about him." Hermione muttered as she closed her eyes for a few brief seconds, remembering how much had happened to her in a few short years.
Hermione rolled out of bed, leaving her pajamas on, even though the pants were hugging her hips and the t-shirt was hanging off one shoulder, and walked over to the window and just stared out it as she watched the sun rising over the mountains that were barely visible over the Forbidden Forest.
She had always enjoyed watching things out of the vast windows in the Hogwarts castle - every window was like a new adventure and she knew that this was true, seeing as she lived in a place full of magic, witches and wizards she didn't find anything hard to believe anymore.
As she glanced back at the forest, Hermione felt a jolt in her stomach and craned closer to the window to look out of it.
Hermione squinted as she saw a black figure flying over the forest, but brushed it off as a bird as she turned and decided that she would get some breakfast in the Great Hall as she heard her stomach rumble, telling her that it was definitely time to go and eat something, and soon.
Still not bothering to get dressed, she put her school robe over her pajamas and walked down the stairs of the Advanced Transfiguration dormitory to make her way to the Great Hall.
On her way down, she ran into Professor Snape, who didn't even notice her or dock points and he continued on his way muttering something about "Mister Malfoy" and Hermione couldn't have cared less. As long as Snape was preoccupied, she wouldn't have to keep her guard up.
As she made her way down to the greatly un - crowded Great Hall, she heard more people talking about Malfoy and wondered what the deal was about the whole deal. Nobody seemed to talk about him whenever he was here, but now he wasn't here and everyone was talking about him as though he were the hottest thing to talk about since the idiot on the front of the latest Crush magazine.
Curious now, Hermione continued walking to the Great Hall and she saw the figure that she had seen over the Forbidden Forest coming closer to the castle, and she now saw that it was a person that was almost falling off their broomstick. Hermione gasped and ran over to the window that she was closest to.
The figure, although she couldn't see their hair or any other feature, was being followed by large creatures that she had never seen before, and she was extremely glad she had never seen them before. They looked somewhat like enormous birds, but they had rotting flesh faces and their beaks glowed in an eerie way. Their wings were skeletal and also seemed to be decaying and their eyes were blood red, as though their faces were the face of hate.
Hermione blasted the window open with her wand and screamed out it at the figure that she was sure had not seen the creatures behind them. She didn't care who was there because all she knew was that she didn't want to watch someone die in front of her face, she didn't know if she would be able to bear it.
"HEY!" she yelled, but the figure didn't turn, and Hermione was afraid that they couldn't hear her, and all the while the creatures were advancing, getting closer to their meal that they were planning, and Hermione's mind screamed at her to do something, anything, to keep the person from being eaten.
"WATCH OUT!" She screamed as loud as her throat and lungs would allow her to as she sent a flurry of exploding sparks into the air and apparently her voice had carried well or the sparks had caught their immediate attention, because the figure whipped around and sent a blast of light at the creatures, which sent them reeling in the opposite direction, burning and exploding into crisps as they did so.
Hermione sighed in relief. She didn't have to watch someone die, she had helped save them. And then she watched as the figure landed on the ground and stood up, as they slowly walked to the castle. The person finally tripped and fell down, and they were close enough for Hermione to see their face.
Draco Malfoy lay there, in the snow, unmoving. Hermione looked around, waiting for someone to go and help him, but nobody seemed to see that he was there. She didn't know what to do, so she pulled her robes around herself and set out at a run toward the doors of the Entrance Hall, but felt an arm grab around her waist and she lost her breath.
Trying to regain her breath, Hermione felt herself dropped to the ground as feet rushed past her head. Hermione blinked a few times as she raised her head. The doors to the entrance of Hogwarts were open and three teachers, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and Professor Durmnov (the new Runes teacher) were all rushing out around Malfoy.
Hermione watched as they levitated him and walked in past her, taking him to the hospital wing. Hermione sat up and rubbed her ribs where the person's arms had grabbed her and walked to the Great Hall, wondering why she had been so quick to try to help Malfoy.
It was instinct, she told herself, although she knew that she didn't believe herself one, single, bit.
~+~
As Hermione walked down the halls, she thought about Malfoy and his immediate surprise entry to the Hogwarts castle, yet she wondered why all of the teachers had seemed to have known that he was coming back. At least, that was what she had assumed, but she wasn't one hundred percent positive that they had known, as it was only an assumption, but in the past, her assumptions had been correct or very close to correct, so she didn't question the thought.
Hermione found herself wondering why he had come to Hogwarts early, and on a broomstick too. Why hadn't he just come on the train the next day like every other student was going to? Why had he come back here now?
Why hadn't he come back with the rest of the students, safe and sound, but decided to come to Hogwarts a day early with wounds that suggested something horrible had happened to him before he made it here, because his injuries were too severe to have been caused by a broomstick accident.
He had looked absolutely horrible and a little worse for the wear and as though he had been attacked or something, which brought another question to Hermione's mind instantly.
She closed her eyes as she remembered what she had seen.
And why were those creatures chasing him? Hermione was sure that she had never seen them and she had even gone to the library to look them up, but found nothing about them, which worried Hermione, not only about Malfoy, but the general population of Hogwarts.
These creatures were obviously dark creatures, and unidentifiable dark creatures, loose on the Hogwarts grounds was not something that would be looked upon as luck. Hermione wondered whether they were sent to do something, or if it was a fluke and they didn't normally come around this part of the world.
She didn't want to know what the creatures were, and Hermione wondered whether the creatures should have existed at all. They seemed to be extremely dangerous, and she wondered if they were illegal creations or legal yet highly dangerous lab animals that were concocted to be used for evil.
Hmm. . . Despite the fact that she was trying to stay out of control- freak zone, she didn't think that she could go much longer without understanding what was happening around the castle.
She found herself wondering whether Malfoy was alright and if the creatures had hurt him before he got to Hogwarts, because he had some nasty cuts that she had seen and he had looked absolutely exhausted as he attempted to fly toward the castle, and it made Hermione wonder what had happened to him before he came to the Hogwarts school castle. Was he here because it was the 'safe zone' for him, or was it some other reason? Perhaps his father and mother had important evil business to attend to.
Yes, Hermione convinced herself, that was what happened. They had to go to some Voldemort convention.
The only reason she believed this was because she had had experience with the Malfoys and she knew that there was not a drop of conscience or kindness in the Malfoy family, as she had had much experience with Draco Malfoy and had no intention of believing that he wasn't evil.
~+~
Hermione had retreated to the Advanced Transfiguration dormitory common room with a large mug of hot cocoa in her hand, and was curled up on the couch with a book in her arms, but was torn from her ring of concentration when someone stumbled into the common room and collapsed on the couch.
Hermione looked up and saw the figure of Draco Malfoy lying, slumped on the couch, and she was surprised to note that he hadn't insulted her or even acknowledged that she was there.
She stood up to leave and caught sight of his face. Apparently Madam Pomfrey hadn't been there, because she was out with someone in the Bahamas, because his face was covered in bruises and scratches, and she had a feeling that they had nothing to do with the broom ride to Hogwarts.
She walked slowly toward him, and took a deep breath, trying to make sure that she didn't sound rude or nosy when she spoke.
"M-Malfoy?" she said quietly, and when he turned to look at her, she realized that he had many scratches and bruises, just on his face alone and she didn't want to know how badly he was hurt.
She was instantly told that it was worse when he didn't insult her or make any fun of her. She felt concern fill her mind and it was the first time that she had begun to regard Malfoy as a true human.
"What happened . . . to your . . .face?" she asked slowly and quietly. Malfoy seemed to be pretending that he hadn't heard her and Hermione couldn't decide whether she should be worried or angry.
"Please answer me, please?" she tried again, but he didn't answer and Hermione was beginning to feel annoyed. Why wasn't he willing to answer her?
Malfoy didn't look at her, and she could have sworn that he moved away from her slightly, as though he was avoiding her and all rational though left Hermione's mind.
Anger was starting to dominate the emotions and Hermione was desperate to make him answer her before she exploded in his face, because, despite how she had always acted before, she didn't want to make him look or feel any worse than he appeared to look and feel already.
Hermione decided to take a chance and do something she hadn't ever though she would catch herself doing no matter what happened, but she somehow felt that at this moment all of her other thoughts weren't important now as she watched Malfoy look so miserable.
Watching him makes me wonder about him. . . Hermione thought as she took a deep breath and began talking again.
". . . Draco. . . What's wrong?" she said this in an almost whisper, but it was more effective at getting his attention than yelling or exploding could have ever been. When he looked at her, his *cough* pink eyes looked like she had never seen them (completely ignoring that fact that they were PINK).
His eyes seemed to show a portal into the depths of his soul, his most guarded secrets, they seemed to show something that he should have never been capable of feeling - fear. He was afraid of something, but he didn't make any move to tell her or explain anything, and Hermione felt her female instincts taking over.
Here was this poor, helpless boy here, and when she looked at him she no longer saw a cruel and cunning 15-year-old, but a lost and forlorn 6- year-old staring at her through Malfoy's eyes.
Hermione felt as she had never felt before. She had never expected to think and look at Draco Malfoy the way she was right now. She felt different about him, as though she had never met him before.
She felt the urge to hug him, to comfort him, to whisper in his ear comforting words that would make him relax and smile. Make him hate her even. Something to rid her of this Draco Malfoy that she knew nothing about. It scared her to think that he could be something completely different than she had always assumed.
When he didn't answer, Hermione decided to try and push her luck one more time, and she wasn't prepared for what he did next, which totally threw down her shield that she had raised and made her heart melt.
"Will, you. . . at least. . . LOOK at me?" Hermione asked, thinking that the next look she got was going to be a death glare, or perhaps another look which contained venom and pure hate that was directed straight at her, something that showed years of dislike and rage.
Malfoy turned to look her dead in the eyes, and she could see his eyes were shining and his face wasn't contorted into a look of rage, it was a look of sadness. He looked like a lost puppy, or that kitten that wants its mother. Hermione's heart melted even more than before and she felt her mind screaming, "THIS IS MALFOY." While her instincts were screaming, "Aww . . . look how sad and alone he looks . . ." and it was true. For the first time in Hermione's life, she saw that Draco Malfoy, the utter and complete jackass and conceited bully of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, looked completely alone.
His shining eyes were now leaking, and Hermione saw that Draco Malfoy was now showing the greatest weakness of all. He was crying.
Draco Malfoy COULD and WAS crying.
~+~
HAHAHA! Cliffhanger!!! Please review and I am proud of myself for staying on schedule. (This chappy was written in 2 ½ hours, don't be too mean to it, a'ight?) Sorry it's shorter than normal.
Please don't fret - Draco hasn't turned to some emotional nice dude.