b Angel125 /b- Dun, dun DAH! Yes, he was . . . let's see what happens
next.
b Jelli Bean /b- Read s'more and tell me what you think!!!
bheysweet /b- Thanks, I am sometimes going out on a limb with her emotions, and I made the story go on longer than two chapters because it bothers me when they 'fall in love' in the first few chapters - it's so unrealistic and sometimes corny. Ha! I leave people hanging all the time!!! MWAHAHA . . . *ahem*
bThe SimonCowel of Fanfiction /b- Yes, there is more soon. . . oh, there's more now! Aww. . . *pet the Draco*
b dracosgurl_02 /b- Oh, thanks so much! I hope you like this chappy too!
bDarkmoon of Shadows/b - Ohh! Good thing you got to read it and I hope you're reading this one now (that doesn't work unless I have a date or something, but pretend it does, a'ight?), but I hope you enjoy your vacay! Thank you and I will keep writing!!!
bImperfectionist/b - Yes, me too! And YES! Poor Draco. . .
bcherryplum11/b - Yes, I am proud of the 'updating queen' title. Is that a bad thing? I was under the impression people liked it!!! Thank you for your compliments, but 60 reviews is an amazing number for me. . . I took down a different story because it got 3, so just being in double digits rocks, but you're right. Reviews ROCK! I love you too!!! THANX!
bPurple Spotted Hedwig /b- I agree, poor him, sorta. I will update. . . before NOW! =D
bEleanor Branstone/b - Yes, something weird is happening, and I am proud to say it's all because of me!!!
bFreakyfairy/b - oh, thanks so much!
bWillowfairy /b- Yes, another cliffie! HA! You'll see what happens, . . . NOW!! Read!!!
bLorien /b- I think I understood what you meant, but I'm not completely sure and I hope this chapter is alright!
bSabby/b - Yes, I wish he'd be a little nicer too. . .
bArtemis /b- Answers:
1. As I said somewhere up there . . . *search* ah, here - "60 reviews is an amazing number for me", and that's the truth. Thank you so much though.
2. My fics kinda hit me. Maybe a song or event triggered it, but this one came to me, details and all, when I was lying in bed about two weeks ago and I knew I had to write it. I love things that require thought and artistic ability (except drawing - my drawings might as well be chicken scrawls). This is my kind of thing.
3. I'm not sure how much longer I intend to make this fic. . . depends on whether my reviews die or not. I hope to make it to 100 reviews though, that's my goal. How much longer do you WANT it to be?
4. GREAT! Interviews rock! At least . . . over the internet they do . . .
Thesaurus: Other words for 'great' - magnificent, wonderful, excellent, fantastic, amazing, cool, and terrific.
Thanks so much.
bBlueamber /b- You like Malfoy this way? Hmm . . . I'm sorry about that dude you talked about, that happened to me too. It's kinda hard to adjust to, isn't it? Please read more!!!
Anyway, here's the usual, blah, blah, blah, oh, PLEASE REVIEW! I wanna make it to 100! Reviews! And, wow! Look at how many people reviewed. . . 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . MANYMANYMANY! YIPEE!
Chapter 10 -
Hermione didn't know what to do. She was utterly perplexed and bewildered out of her mind. Her mind was screaming something incoherently about "trick" and "unheard of" while the rest of her stood frozen in one place. She had always though she knew exactly what to do in every situation possibly imaginable as semi-possible, but this had been one of those situations that she had, up until now, thought was completely impossible.
She didn't want to help him though, because he had always known how to make her feel bad. Why shouldn't she give him a taste of his own medicine? Why couldn't she be scornful and make him feel worse than he already was obviously feeling? It would be a nice awakening for him.
She felt herself being torn in half. On one hand, it would be nice and he looked like he could use some serious help, but on the other hand, he deserved the pain now, because he had brought it on himself.
Hermione had visions of herself smirking and sneering while it was finally him that was beaten up emotionally, finally him that was feeling the pain and wrath of words. He would realize the scars that words could leave.
Yet, even as she though it, she knew that she could never do it. Sighing at her stupidity, she inhaled and steadied her voice to speak.
". . . M-Draco?" Hermione said quietly as she watched him blink rapidly, blocking the tears from leaving his eyes. She knew what was going through his mind. He was trying to keep himself from crying because 'guys don't cry'.
"Go away." Malfoy said, but it was extremely unforceful and Hermione felt no need to leave. It was like his last ditch attempt to make her leave, but she now refused to. She wanted to know what was wrong.
"What . . . happened?" Hermione asked, and she surprised herself even more by sitting down next to him. She had abandoned thinking about things in a logical manner, because logic would have done her no good. Why was she sacrificing everything that she believed in to make someone that hates her feel better, even though she knew that it was likely to blow up in her face?
Malfoy spoke, which shocked Hermione, but when he spoke, he spoke to the carpet, through his hands that were covering his face.
"I've just got some . . . problems . . ."
It was all Hermione could do from bursting out and saying, 'You BET you do, Malfoy.' She breathed out slowly and decided to press the issue, because she had made amazing progress. He was speaking to her.
"Like . . . ?" Hermione said, indicating that she was expecting an answer, and for a few seconds she thought he hadn't heard her, but then he spoke again, his voice even quieter than before.
"Nothing . . . GO AWAY." Malfoy said, yet it was still without force, as though he was hoping that she would just leave him there, but Hermione had no intentions of leaving. She was going to get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing she did, which it very well may be.
"C'mon . . . you can tell me, alright?" Hermione said encouragingly and she could see the defeat in the way Malfoy sat.
Malfoy sighed, as though still trying to decide whether he should say something or just completely ignore her, but she was winning.
"I got in a fight." He said quietly and Hermione tried to register this, but she couldn't get it through her head.
"With magic?" she asked stupidly and he shook his head.
"With who?" Hermione asked, and, even though she had thought that she was making much progress, Malfoy once again fell silent. Apparently she had tried to go WAY too far, because she had lost all communication with him that she had had seconds before.
"Please answer me." Hermione said, and she was completely unprepared for what happened next.
Malfoy looked over at her and glared at her. It was a full strength glare, and she hadn't been expecting it. She stood up and glared right back at him, anger surging through her.
Hermione forgot about trying to be nice. She had tried, and now she didn't want to try anymore. For years she had tried to tell herself that someday he might change, he might try to be nicer, but she was giving up. He was a JERK.
"I'm sorry, your Majesty. I didn't realize I was bothering your daily kiss-my-ass routine. Your just like your father, a pig." Hermione huffed, and turned to walk away, but found herself, instead, staring into the face of Draco Malfoy. Not only that, but a livid Draco Malfoy.
His face was close to hers and she could see the anger now taking every feature of his face. He was glaring at her like she had never been glared at before, and Hermione felt a prickle of fear go through her.
"Don't ever talk about my family like that." He said. He was whispering so quietly that she almost had to lean closer to hear, but his voice had enough of a warning in it to tell her that would be a BAD move.
"I will NEVER let anyone talk about my family like that." Malfoy continued, his voice dropping even lower, yet every syllable was accented with pure rage and anger. Hermione ignored this, because she was swelling with pure anger of her own.
"Why not? Are you afraid it's true?" Hermione asked in a sardonic and sarcastic tone. Malfoy's eyes narrowed, although this move was un- frightening because of the brilliant pink color.
"You should already know." He said, his voice even quieter yet, and with his words, Hermione lost all control of her anger and feelings, and she did what she had been avoiding for so long. She exploded.
"HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW. MR. I'M-SO-MACHO-I-DON'T-NEED- ANYONE! YOU DON'T EVER TELL ANYONE ANYTHING, AND YOU COMMAND THEIR RESPECT AS THOUGH IT'S SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN CONTROL AND GAIN WITH A WAVE OF YOUR WAND. IT'S NOT TRUE YOU PIG. NOBODY RESPECTS YOU MALFOY THEY HATE YOU. I HATE YOU WITH A PASSION. AN INTENSE PASSION." Hermione yelled the words that she had been dying to say ever since she first saw Malfoy's pale face and silvery blonde hair in their first year. She wanted to scream more and more, but she had to breathe.
Malfoy narrowed his eyes and she took this as a chance to continue her yellign fit, because now that she had started, she wanted to finish. She wanted to yell everything that she had kept to herself for so long.
"YOU STRUT DOWN THE HALLS IN YOUR EXPENSIVE ROBES WITH YOUR GOONS FLANKING YOU AND YOU MAKE ME WANT TO BE SICK. YOU ALWAYS GLOAT ABOUT YOUR MONEY, AND YOUR LOOKS, AND YOUR PERFECT LIFE. I WOULD LIKE TO HEX YOU EVERY TIME I LAY EYES ON YOU." Hermione ranted and she was beginning to feel much better about herself as she was finally saying what she truly wanted.
"I HATE YOU. YOU ARE AN EVIL MAN AND YOU'RE THE SAME AS YOUR FATHER, EXACTLY THE SAME. I WANT TO SPIT AT YOUR FEET AND CURSE YOU INTO ANOTHER WORLD SO I DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOU." Hermione would have continued yelling more things at Malfoy, but she caught sight of his face, and saw that it was contorted into a look nothing short of detestation.
"You listen to me, you Mudblood." He said, as he grabbed some of her hair and drug her forward and brought her face close to his. He was speaking in an undertone, yet his anger didn't need to be shown in his tones, because it was present on every other part of him.
"Don't you EVER say that I'm the same as my father." He said, and the look on his face was all she needed. It was obvious that he disliked being compared to his father, and there was something else about the way his face was twisted in anger. . . something. . .
Hermione gasped.
"He's the one that did this -" she gestured toward his face, and he grabbed her wrist. "To you, isn't he?"
"Listen, Granger, you're meddling with things that are to be left alone, understand?" Malfoy said. "Because if you don't, I can curse you as much as you can curse me, and we'll see who's point wins."
"Why don't you want to be compared to your father? Isn't he what you wanted to be?" Hermione spat at him, her anger still flooding through her, pumping through her veins, impaling her mind.
"I will never be my father." Malfoy told her and he turned away from her, now staring into the fire.
"Why?" Hermione asked, curiosity getting the better of her. "I always thought you wanted to be the evil jerk of the family. The Death Eater, loyal servant of Vol -" Malfoy whipped around and turned to face her again, hushing her with his own words again.
"Don't say his name." He said quietly, and Hermione felt an urge to say it because he didn't want it, but didn't.
"Shouldn't you be used to it, Junior Death Eater?" Hermione asked scornfully as she kicked the carpet.
'I can't believe I'm stuck in here with a death eater,'
"I don't want to be a Death Eater," Malfoy said, and Hermione froze and her head snapped up and she looked at Malfoy again. She HAD to of heard wrong. Something wasn't right about that.
"Pardon?"
"I don't want to be a Death Eater." Malfoy repeated. "I don't want to be forced into service of the Dark Lord, I don't want to be ordered to do his bidding." Hermione looked at Malfoy in an odd fashion, and he sneered.
"Now, now, now, don't go off with false ideas, Granger," he said, his sneer turning to a mocking smile and smirk. "I have no intentions of being a goody-goody. I have no need to save peoples' lives. They mean absolutely nothing to me." Malfoy walked over to a window and stared out it.
Hermione made to move toward him, but stopped when he began talking again.
"I just want people to leave me alone, alright? LEAVE ME ALONE. I don't want to be some cock and bull croonie wimp ass, and I'm not going to follow anyone else. I make my own rules and I'll blast the next stupid jerk that comes in my way. I'm not a servant or a wonderful 'right hand man'."
Hermione didn't feel relieved or feel her stomach plummet, because she hadn't been expecting anything from a Malfoy, especially the one that was sitting in front of her. She had learned to expect the worst.
"Then what are you?" Hermione asked.
"I don't see why that matters to you."
"Neither do I, but I want an answer." Hermione said truthfully. She didn't know why she was working so hard for an answer, but she still found that she wanted the answer.
"Just leave me alone."
"No." Hermione said, surprised at her own daring.
"Then what do you want?" Malfoy asked, and Hermione could think of many sarcastic answers, but refrained from using them.
"I want you to answer me." Hermione said without hesitation. She didn't like his attitude, but at least he wasn't crying, which made her more uncomfortable than anything else. She had not clue as of what she should have done to make him feel better and/or worse.
"Fine." Malfoy said in bad temper.
"Why aren't you getting along with your father and why do you look like you got beat up." It took Hermione a few seconds to realize how stupid she had been. The answer was right in front of her.
Her mouth formed an 'O' and she slapped her hand to her mouth. Malfoy's face changed like a traffic light. It went from anger to confusion. Hermione watched his face before she spoke again.
"I-I'm sorry. . .I didn't. . ." Hermione trailed off as she watched him sink into the couch again, looking weary and tired.
"Look, if you don't want your father to hurt you, you can just tell the Ministry or Dumble -" Hermione was cut off by another change in Malfoy's mood. He had jumped up and was now so close to her that she could feel his breath on her face.
"I won't go crying to some senile old man." Malfoy told her, and Hermione rolled her eyes is extreme exasperation.
"You don't get it?" Hermione asked in awed tones.
"I don't want to talk to you anymore." He said, his face still close to hers, and she could see his eyes, although pink by the spell, looking grey with sadness, although they were forced to a look of venom.
"C'mon, there's gotta be something that you never wanted to tell anyone but you know you need to talk about." Hermione said probingly, and she was sure that she had gone too far when he didn't answer her at all.
"I don't want to talk about anything with a Mudblood." He said, and Hermione had been expecting this reaction although it still made her angry.
"Talk to SOMEONE. Maybe that COW, what was her name, Pansy Parkinotherpeople'slives, or something to that affect." Hermione said with scorn and she glared right back at Malfoy.
"Look, I saved your arse out there, now you OWE it to me to talk to me." Hermione said, and Malfoy glared at her, but stared at her, apparently waiting for her to speak.
"Why do you look so alone? Why were you crying?"
"I wasn't crying." He said defiantly, but he spoke too quickly for her to even begin to believe him, and he sighed, sank down on the couch and buried his scarred face into his hands.
Hermione didn't know what to expect, but she wasn't expecting what he said.
"My mother wants to go to Italy to be spies for a rising empire that is supposedly stronger than the Dark Lord, my father wants to stay with You- Know-Who and beat the Italian people, my house is full of evil stuff that is going to be searched for by ministry officials, both of my parents are trying to make me choose one side of their argument as though I can settle everything, my mother is throwing things at my father when he doesn't agree with her, my father is beating me to vent his frustration, and my family is falling apart."
Throughout this whole time, he was speaking so quietly that Hermione had to strain to hear, but she was shocked when she heard what he was saying.
"I-I . . ." Hermione sputtered stupidly as she stared at Malfoy, not moving her feet.
Slowly she gained movement of her body and walked over to him, but he jumped up and looked at her before she could get any closer to the couch. She looked back at him, waiting for something to happen.
Malfoy looked like he was going to say something, but no words issued from his mouth, and with him this close she could see every feature on his face. Everything from his eyes to his blurry nose, because it was close to hers.
Despite the fact that she hated him, she had to admit that he was no shoddy work. He was good looking, although she would never be caught dead admitting this to someone.
More tears leaked from his eyes and he, determinedly, wiped them on the sleeve of his robes, as though hoping that she wouldn't notice. Again, she didn't know what to do - she was lost.
They both stood there for a few seconds, their faces inches from each other, their eyes locked, Malfoy looking like she had never seen him before. Bewildered, lost, alone. Three things that he had worked all of his life to never feel, yet they were all written across his face in one brief minute.
Before she knew what was happening, they were barely an inch apart, and Hermione didn't know what to do. She was completely lost, which really frightened Hermione, because she had never been lost at anything before, but here she was, helpless and confused.
Her mind screamed for her to stop, but she couldn't control her body anymore than someone else could without magic, so she was forced to follow her body, wherever it decided it should go next.
Their lips met for a brief second or two, although to some it may have seemed like forever, and then a bunch of things happened at all once.
Peeves burst in and knocked over the desk while he was cackling, Hermione and Malfoy jumped apart, the sleeve of Hermione's robe caught fire as she leapt backward and collided with the fire, and someone was knocking on the door. Hermione took the opportunity to run when Malfoy wasn't looking.
Thank god for Peeves.
She turned and ran down the spiral stairs to the corridor outside of the Advanced Transfiguration dormitory, she had regained all movement abilities, and fled as quickly as she possibly to the Girls' dormitories in the Gryffindor common room where she was sure she would be alone, because everyone else was in classes.
She flopped on her old bed in the dormitory, which, thankfully, was not used by anyone now, and her heart was beating quickly because of the run away from the Advanced Transfiguration dormitories and all the way to the Gryffindor tower, or perhaps it wasn't from the run. Her brain was still processing what happened roughly forty-five seconds ago in shock, as though she would suddenly wake up and realize that it was all a dream.
It was unreal. She couldn't believe that minutes before . . . seconds ago. . .
She and Malfoy had - They had - they -
It was too much to think about. Hermione pulled a pillow over her head and hummed loudly, trying to block everything from her thoughts, but she couldn't stop thinking about it no matter how hard she tried. Had SHE kissed him, or had HE kissed her? She shivered as she thought about it.
Hermione took a deep breath and screamed into the mattress as loud as she could. She repeated this process for a few seconds until her throat hurt and she just lay there, closing her eyes and imagining tha nothing happened, but it was no use.
Moaning loudly, Hermione rolled over. It was neither. It was a total accident. Nothing was supposed to happen. Absolutely nothing DID happen. She had imagined it, because she was hallucinating, yes, that was it. Hallucinations. Yet, even as she thought it she knew it wasn't true.
~+~
Hermione avoided leaving the room for the rest of the day. She was safe in the Gryffindor tower, and she wouldn't have to come out until the following day when Harry and Ron were back.
Harry and Ron. . .
What was she going to tell them if something happened to leak out around the school, as she was sure that it would. How could she explain what had happened? Suppose that she could pretend that it was all a lie?
Moaning and groaning, Hermione lay back on the bed and fell into an unrestful slumber.
A phoenix was sitting under a tree, the shadow of it not damaging the brilliance of its coat, and it was stroking its feathers.
Then a lizard made its way over to the phoenix and crawled up its feathers with no objections from the bird.
Hermione remembered vaguely wondering when it would eat the lizard . . .
Or perhaps it was meet . . .
She couldn't remember . . .
She needed to sleep . . .
Hermione drifted off, not knowing why she was having strange dreams, and not caring at the time.
~+~
A/N: Hey, ya'll! Please review, and I like the number of peoples that are reviewing! I THRIVE on reviews! I woke up one morning, checked it and it said, 'You have 11 new messages' and all of them were reviews! Hip Hip HORRAY!
Please tell me what you think of my:
detail
events
um . . .
Did everything make sense?
And . . .
Do you still like the story?
Thanks for reading, more to come ASAP and then some!
Your finger dear author,
--Saquoia--
b Jelli Bean /b- Read s'more and tell me what you think!!!
bheysweet /b- Thanks, I am sometimes going out on a limb with her emotions, and I made the story go on longer than two chapters because it bothers me when they 'fall in love' in the first few chapters - it's so unrealistic and sometimes corny. Ha! I leave people hanging all the time!!! MWAHAHA . . . *ahem*
bThe SimonCowel of Fanfiction /b- Yes, there is more soon. . . oh, there's more now! Aww. . . *pet the Draco*
b dracosgurl_02 /b- Oh, thanks so much! I hope you like this chappy too!
bDarkmoon of Shadows/b - Ohh! Good thing you got to read it and I hope you're reading this one now (that doesn't work unless I have a date or something, but pretend it does, a'ight?), but I hope you enjoy your vacay! Thank you and I will keep writing!!!
bImperfectionist/b - Yes, me too! And YES! Poor Draco. . .
bcherryplum11/b - Yes, I am proud of the 'updating queen' title. Is that a bad thing? I was under the impression people liked it!!! Thank you for your compliments, but 60 reviews is an amazing number for me. . . I took down a different story because it got 3, so just being in double digits rocks, but you're right. Reviews ROCK! I love you too!!! THANX!
bPurple Spotted Hedwig /b- I agree, poor him, sorta. I will update. . . before NOW! =D
bEleanor Branstone/b - Yes, something weird is happening, and I am proud to say it's all because of me!!!
bFreakyfairy/b - oh, thanks so much!
bWillowfairy /b- Yes, another cliffie! HA! You'll see what happens, . . . NOW!! Read!!!
bLorien /b- I think I understood what you meant, but I'm not completely sure and I hope this chapter is alright!
bSabby/b - Yes, I wish he'd be a little nicer too. . .
bArtemis /b- Answers:
1. As I said somewhere up there . . . *search* ah, here - "60 reviews is an amazing number for me", and that's the truth. Thank you so much though.
2. My fics kinda hit me. Maybe a song or event triggered it, but this one came to me, details and all, when I was lying in bed about two weeks ago and I knew I had to write it. I love things that require thought and artistic ability (except drawing - my drawings might as well be chicken scrawls). This is my kind of thing.
3. I'm not sure how much longer I intend to make this fic. . . depends on whether my reviews die or not. I hope to make it to 100 reviews though, that's my goal. How much longer do you WANT it to be?
4. GREAT! Interviews rock! At least . . . over the internet they do . . .
Thesaurus: Other words for 'great' - magnificent, wonderful, excellent, fantastic, amazing, cool, and terrific.
Thanks so much.
bBlueamber /b- You like Malfoy this way? Hmm . . . I'm sorry about that dude you talked about, that happened to me too. It's kinda hard to adjust to, isn't it? Please read more!!!
Anyway, here's the usual, blah, blah, blah, oh, PLEASE REVIEW! I wanna make it to 100! Reviews! And, wow! Look at how many people reviewed. . . 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . MANYMANYMANY! YIPEE!
Chapter 10 -
Hermione didn't know what to do. She was utterly perplexed and bewildered out of her mind. Her mind was screaming something incoherently about "trick" and "unheard of" while the rest of her stood frozen in one place. She had always though she knew exactly what to do in every situation possibly imaginable as semi-possible, but this had been one of those situations that she had, up until now, thought was completely impossible.
She didn't want to help him though, because he had always known how to make her feel bad. Why shouldn't she give him a taste of his own medicine? Why couldn't she be scornful and make him feel worse than he already was obviously feeling? It would be a nice awakening for him.
She felt herself being torn in half. On one hand, it would be nice and he looked like he could use some serious help, but on the other hand, he deserved the pain now, because he had brought it on himself.
Hermione had visions of herself smirking and sneering while it was finally him that was beaten up emotionally, finally him that was feeling the pain and wrath of words. He would realize the scars that words could leave.
Yet, even as she though it, she knew that she could never do it. Sighing at her stupidity, she inhaled and steadied her voice to speak.
". . . M-Draco?" Hermione said quietly as she watched him blink rapidly, blocking the tears from leaving his eyes. She knew what was going through his mind. He was trying to keep himself from crying because 'guys don't cry'.
"Go away." Malfoy said, but it was extremely unforceful and Hermione felt no need to leave. It was like his last ditch attempt to make her leave, but she now refused to. She wanted to know what was wrong.
"What . . . happened?" Hermione asked, and she surprised herself even more by sitting down next to him. She had abandoned thinking about things in a logical manner, because logic would have done her no good. Why was she sacrificing everything that she believed in to make someone that hates her feel better, even though she knew that it was likely to blow up in her face?
Malfoy spoke, which shocked Hermione, but when he spoke, he spoke to the carpet, through his hands that were covering his face.
"I've just got some . . . problems . . ."
It was all Hermione could do from bursting out and saying, 'You BET you do, Malfoy.' She breathed out slowly and decided to press the issue, because she had made amazing progress. He was speaking to her.
"Like . . . ?" Hermione said, indicating that she was expecting an answer, and for a few seconds she thought he hadn't heard her, but then he spoke again, his voice even quieter than before.
"Nothing . . . GO AWAY." Malfoy said, yet it was still without force, as though he was hoping that she would just leave him there, but Hermione had no intentions of leaving. She was going to get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing she did, which it very well may be.
"C'mon . . . you can tell me, alright?" Hermione said encouragingly and she could see the defeat in the way Malfoy sat.
Malfoy sighed, as though still trying to decide whether he should say something or just completely ignore her, but she was winning.
"I got in a fight." He said quietly and Hermione tried to register this, but she couldn't get it through her head.
"With magic?" she asked stupidly and he shook his head.
"With who?" Hermione asked, and, even though she had thought that she was making much progress, Malfoy once again fell silent. Apparently she had tried to go WAY too far, because she had lost all communication with him that she had had seconds before.
"Please answer me." Hermione said, and she was completely unprepared for what happened next.
Malfoy looked over at her and glared at her. It was a full strength glare, and she hadn't been expecting it. She stood up and glared right back at him, anger surging through her.
Hermione forgot about trying to be nice. She had tried, and now she didn't want to try anymore. For years she had tried to tell herself that someday he might change, he might try to be nicer, but she was giving up. He was a JERK.
"I'm sorry, your Majesty. I didn't realize I was bothering your daily kiss-my-ass routine. Your just like your father, a pig." Hermione huffed, and turned to walk away, but found herself, instead, staring into the face of Draco Malfoy. Not only that, but a livid Draco Malfoy.
His face was close to hers and she could see the anger now taking every feature of his face. He was glaring at her like she had never been glared at before, and Hermione felt a prickle of fear go through her.
"Don't ever talk about my family like that." He said. He was whispering so quietly that she almost had to lean closer to hear, but his voice had enough of a warning in it to tell her that would be a BAD move.
"I will NEVER let anyone talk about my family like that." Malfoy continued, his voice dropping even lower, yet every syllable was accented with pure rage and anger. Hermione ignored this, because she was swelling with pure anger of her own.
"Why not? Are you afraid it's true?" Hermione asked in a sardonic and sarcastic tone. Malfoy's eyes narrowed, although this move was un- frightening because of the brilliant pink color.
"You should already know." He said, his voice even quieter yet, and with his words, Hermione lost all control of her anger and feelings, and she did what she had been avoiding for so long. She exploded.
"HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW. MR. I'M-SO-MACHO-I-DON'T-NEED- ANYONE! YOU DON'T EVER TELL ANYONE ANYTHING, AND YOU COMMAND THEIR RESPECT AS THOUGH IT'S SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN CONTROL AND GAIN WITH A WAVE OF YOUR WAND. IT'S NOT TRUE YOU PIG. NOBODY RESPECTS YOU MALFOY THEY HATE YOU. I HATE YOU WITH A PASSION. AN INTENSE PASSION." Hermione yelled the words that she had been dying to say ever since she first saw Malfoy's pale face and silvery blonde hair in their first year. She wanted to scream more and more, but she had to breathe.
Malfoy narrowed his eyes and she took this as a chance to continue her yellign fit, because now that she had started, she wanted to finish. She wanted to yell everything that she had kept to herself for so long.
"YOU STRUT DOWN THE HALLS IN YOUR EXPENSIVE ROBES WITH YOUR GOONS FLANKING YOU AND YOU MAKE ME WANT TO BE SICK. YOU ALWAYS GLOAT ABOUT YOUR MONEY, AND YOUR LOOKS, AND YOUR PERFECT LIFE. I WOULD LIKE TO HEX YOU EVERY TIME I LAY EYES ON YOU." Hermione ranted and she was beginning to feel much better about herself as she was finally saying what she truly wanted.
"I HATE YOU. YOU ARE AN EVIL MAN AND YOU'RE THE SAME AS YOUR FATHER, EXACTLY THE SAME. I WANT TO SPIT AT YOUR FEET AND CURSE YOU INTO ANOTHER WORLD SO I DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOU." Hermione would have continued yelling more things at Malfoy, but she caught sight of his face, and saw that it was contorted into a look nothing short of detestation.
"You listen to me, you Mudblood." He said, as he grabbed some of her hair and drug her forward and brought her face close to his. He was speaking in an undertone, yet his anger didn't need to be shown in his tones, because it was present on every other part of him.
"Don't you EVER say that I'm the same as my father." He said, and the look on his face was all she needed. It was obvious that he disliked being compared to his father, and there was something else about the way his face was twisted in anger. . . something. . .
Hermione gasped.
"He's the one that did this -" she gestured toward his face, and he grabbed her wrist. "To you, isn't he?"
"Listen, Granger, you're meddling with things that are to be left alone, understand?" Malfoy said. "Because if you don't, I can curse you as much as you can curse me, and we'll see who's point wins."
"Why don't you want to be compared to your father? Isn't he what you wanted to be?" Hermione spat at him, her anger still flooding through her, pumping through her veins, impaling her mind.
"I will never be my father." Malfoy told her and he turned away from her, now staring into the fire.
"Why?" Hermione asked, curiosity getting the better of her. "I always thought you wanted to be the evil jerk of the family. The Death Eater, loyal servant of Vol -" Malfoy whipped around and turned to face her again, hushing her with his own words again.
"Don't say his name." He said quietly, and Hermione felt an urge to say it because he didn't want it, but didn't.
"Shouldn't you be used to it, Junior Death Eater?" Hermione asked scornfully as she kicked the carpet.
'I can't believe I'm stuck in here with a death eater,'
"I don't want to be a Death Eater," Malfoy said, and Hermione froze and her head snapped up and she looked at Malfoy again. She HAD to of heard wrong. Something wasn't right about that.
"Pardon?"
"I don't want to be a Death Eater." Malfoy repeated. "I don't want to be forced into service of the Dark Lord, I don't want to be ordered to do his bidding." Hermione looked at Malfoy in an odd fashion, and he sneered.
"Now, now, now, don't go off with false ideas, Granger," he said, his sneer turning to a mocking smile and smirk. "I have no intentions of being a goody-goody. I have no need to save peoples' lives. They mean absolutely nothing to me." Malfoy walked over to a window and stared out it.
Hermione made to move toward him, but stopped when he began talking again.
"I just want people to leave me alone, alright? LEAVE ME ALONE. I don't want to be some cock and bull croonie wimp ass, and I'm not going to follow anyone else. I make my own rules and I'll blast the next stupid jerk that comes in my way. I'm not a servant or a wonderful 'right hand man'."
Hermione didn't feel relieved or feel her stomach plummet, because she hadn't been expecting anything from a Malfoy, especially the one that was sitting in front of her. She had learned to expect the worst.
"Then what are you?" Hermione asked.
"I don't see why that matters to you."
"Neither do I, but I want an answer." Hermione said truthfully. She didn't know why she was working so hard for an answer, but she still found that she wanted the answer.
"Just leave me alone."
"No." Hermione said, surprised at her own daring.
"Then what do you want?" Malfoy asked, and Hermione could think of many sarcastic answers, but refrained from using them.
"I want you to answer me." Hermione said without hesitation. She didn't like his attitude, but at least he wasn't crying, which made her more uncomfortable than anything else. She had not clue as of what she should have done to make him feel better and/or worse.
"Fine." Malfoy said in bad temper.
"Why aren't you getting along with your father and why do you look like you got beat up." It took Hermione a few seconds to realize how stupid she had been. The answer was right in front of her.
Her mouth formed an 'O' and she slapped her hand to her mouth. Malfoy's face changed like a traffic light. It went from anger to confusion. Hermione watched his face before she spoke again.
"I-I'm sorry. . .I didn't. . ." Hermione trailed off as she watched him sink into the couch again, looking weary and tired.
"Look, if you don't want your father to hurt you, you can just tell the Ministry or Dumble -" Hermione was cut off by another change in Malfoy's mood. He had jumped up and was now so close to her that she could feel his breath on her face.
"I won't go crying to some senile old man." Malfoy told her, and Hermione rolled her eyes is extreme exasperation.
"You don't get it?" Hermione asked in awed tones.
"I don't want to talk to you anymore." He said, his face still close to hers, and she could see his eyes, although pink by the spell, looking grey with sadness, although they were forced to a look of venom.
"C'mon, there's gotta be something that you never wanted to tell anyone but you know you need to talk about." Hermione said probingly, and she was sure that she had gone too far when he didn't answer her at all.
"I don't want to talk about anything with a Mudblood." He said, and Hermione had been expecting this reaction although it still made her angry.
"Talk to SOMEONE. Maybe that COW, what was her name, Pansy Parkinotherpeople'slives, or something to that affect." Hermione said with scorn and she glared right back at Malfoy.
"Look, I saved your arse out there, now you OWE it to me to talk to me." Hermione said, and Malfoy glared at her, but stared at her, apparently waiting for her to speak.
"Why do you look so alone? Why were you crying?"
"I wasn't crying." He said defiantly, but he spoke too quickly for her to even begin to believe him, and he sighed, sank down on the couch and buried his scarred face into his hands.
Hermione didn't know what to expect, but she wasn't expecting what he said.
"My mother wants to go to Italy to be spies for a rising empire that is supposedly stronger than the Dark Lord, my father wants to stay with You- Know-Who and beat the Italian people, my house is full of evil stuff that is going to be searched for by ministry officials, both of my parents are trying to make me choose one side of their argument as though I can settle everything, my mother is throwing things at my father when he doesn't agree with her, my father is beating me to vent his frustration, and my family is falling apart."
Throughout this whole time, he was speaking so quietly that Hermione had to strain to hear, but she was shocked when she heard what he was saying.
"I-I . . ." Hermione sputtered stupidly as she stared at Malfoy, not moving her feet.
Slowly she gained movement of her body and walked over to him, but he jumped up and looked at her before she could get any closer to the couch. She looked back at him, waiting for something to happen.
Malfoy looked like he was going to say something, but no words issued from his mouth, and with him this close she could see every feature on his face. Everything from his eyes to his blurry nose, because it was close to hers.
Despite the fact that she hated him, she had to admit that he was no shoddy work. He was good looking, although she would never be caught dead admitting this to someone.
More tears leaked from his eyes and he, determinedly, wiped them on the sleeve of his robes, as though hoping that she wouldn't notice. Again, she didn't know what to do - she was lost.
They both stood there for a few seconds, their faces inches from each other, their eyes locked, Malfoy looking like she had never seen him before. Bewildered, lost, alone. Three things that he had worked all of his life to never feel, yet they were all written across his face in one brief minute.
Before she knew what was happening, they were barely an inch apart, and Hermione didn't know what to do. She was completely lost, which really frightened Hermione, because she had never been lost at anything before, but here she was, helpless and confused.
Her mind screamed for her to stop, but she couldn't control her body anymore than someone else could without magic, so she was forced to follow her body, wherever it decided it should go next.
Their lips met for a brief second or two, although to some it may have seemed like forever, and then a bunch of things happened at all once.
Peeves burst in and knocked over the desk while he was cackling, Hermione and Malfoy jumped apart, the sleeve of Hermione's robe caught fire as she leapt backward and collided with the fire, and someone was knocking on the door. Hermione took the opportunity to run when Malfoy wasn't looking.
Thank god for Peeves.
She turned and ran down the spiral stairs to the corridor outside of the Advanced Transfiguration dormitory, she had regained all movement abilities, and fled as quickly as she possibly to the Girls' dormitories in the Gryffindor common room where she was sure she would be alone, because everyone else was in classes.
She flopped on her old bed in the dormitory, which, thankfully, was not used by anyone now, and her heart was beating quickly because of the run away from the Advanced Transfiguration dormitories and all the way to the Gryffindor tower, or perhaps it wasn't from the run. Her brain was still processing what happened roughly forty-five seconds ago in shock, as though she would suddenly wake up and realize that it was all a dream.
It was unreal. She couldn't believe that minutes before . . . seconds ago. . .
She and Malfoy had - They had - they -
It was too much to think about. Hermione pulled a pillow over her head and hummed loudly, trying to block everything from her thoughts, but she couldn't stop thinking about it no matter how hard she tried. Had SHE kissed him, or had HE kissed her? She shivered as she thought about it.
Hermione took a deep breath and screamed into the mattress as loud as she could. She repeated this process for a few seconds until her throat hurt and she just lay there, closing her eyes and imagining tha nothing happened, but it was no use.
Moaning loudly, Hermione rolled over. It was neither. It was a total accident. Nothing was supposed to happen. Absolutely nothing DID happen. She had imagined it, because she was hallucinating, yes, that was it. Hallucinations. Yet, even as she thought it she knew it wasn't true.
~+~
Hermione avoided leaving the room for the rest of the day. She was safe in the Gryffindor tower, and she wouldn't have to come out until the following day when Harry and Ron were back.
Harry and Ron. . .
What was she going to tell them if something happened to leak out around the school, as she was sure that it would. How could she explain what had happened? Suppose that she could pretend that it was all a lie?
Moaning and groaning, Hermione lay back on the bed and fell into an unrestful slumber.
A phoenix was sitting under a tree, the shadow of it not damaging the brilliance of its coat, and it was stroking its feathers.
Then a lizard made its way over to the phoenix and crawled up its feathers with no objections from the bird.
Hermione remembered vaguely wondering when it would eat the lizard . . .
Or perhaps it was meet . . .
She couldn't remember . . .
She needed to sleep . . .
Hermione drifted off, not knowing why she was having strange dreams, and not caring at the time.
~+~
A/N: Hey, ya'll! Please review, and I like the number of peoples that are reviewing! I THRIVE on reviews! I woke up one morning, checked it and it said, 'You have 11 new messages' and all of them were reviews! Hip Hip HORRAY!
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Your finger dear author,
--Saquoia--