No bloody idea
"Bitch!" yelled Draco as he entered his dorm.
"Who's a bitch?" Crabbe asked, looking up from his Oscar Wilde book. Draco, of course, did not notice his reading material.
Draco moaned into his pillow as he collapsed on to the four-poster bed. "Vincent," he sighed, turning onto his back to stare up at the canopy. "Just leave. Ok? Can you just…leave me alone, for once?"
"Fine." Crabbe stood as he bookmarked his page. He was annoyed by Draco's dismissive attitude, but knew better than to aggravate him when he called him Vincent.
Draco waited until he heard the door close before letting out a sigh. She had done it again. The bloody bitch was intent on messing with his mind.
Just as he had begun to get over her, she comes out with a line like that. I never said I didn't. What the fuck did that mean? Did she still love him? Had she ever? Or maybe it was just another sick line to twist the dagger. Or maybe she just wanted out of that situation.
If there was one thing Draco had discovered in the past week or so with Hermione it was that she was not a fan of confrontations. Every time he had got her on her own, she had wanted nothing more than to be anywhere else. Maybe he should've taken that as a hint.
The thing was though, why was he so…affected? There really was no other word for it. He had sworn he had forgotten about her. He didn't need her. So how come this hurt him so much? Why was it that everything she did to him mattered? Why couldn't he just move on?
A loud knock at the door brought him back from his wandering thoughts.
"Draco?" he heard a voice say quietly. He looked round to where the voice had come from, somewhat startled. The sight that greeted him was a shy looking Millicent Bullstrode.
"Can I come in?" she asked. Draco nodded yes and she stepped in lightly, closing the door behind her. She fiddled with the side of her robes and bit her lip before scooting over to sit at the edge of Draco's bed.
"Um, Crabbe said you were in a bad mood, and I know I don't know you that well and all, but I just thought I'd come see if you were ok. You know, I mean, in case it's serious, or if you want to talk, or need help with something, um, I mean, like homework. But if you don't, I can go. I can go anyway. Or I can stay, not that I want to – oh but not that I don't! I can stay or I can go. It's up to you. I just thought that maybe you could use the company or something, or maybe…" Draco watched the babbling girl with curiosity. True, they'd never exactly been close friends, but he'd always seen her as quite a strong minded individual. Why would she be blathering on like that and going that funny red colour? Unless…
"What?" she asked, stopping her rant. "Why are you smiling at me like that?" she touched her hair self-consciously.
Draco laughed softly. "No, no it's not that. I was just thinking."
"Oh." She looked down at her hands for a moment before looking up at him again. "Want to talk about it?"
Draco smiled lightly. "Mmm." He pondered, as he crossed his legs Indian-style and rested his chin on his knuckles. "Tell me, Millicent, do you know when the next Hogsmeade weekend is?"
Millicent looked at him oddly before answering slowly. "It's this weekend. Tomorrow."
Draco reached out and took her hand, provoking a rush of more red to her cheeks. "And tell me, how would you like to be my companion on the trip?"
Millicent gasped and stammered as she looked at Draco's calm face. "Y-you mean, like, on a…a…d-da…on a-"
"Yes, Millicent. I mean, on a date." Draco replied, softly kissing her hand. Millicent positively beamed. Yep Draco thought Hermione is definitely on her way to being forgotten.
*~*~*~*~*
"You said you'd be back fifteen minutes ago." Hermione moaned as she climbed through the portrait hole to Ron's complaining voice.
"Yes, I know. I got sidetracked, ok? I'm sorry." She strolled lazily over to where her friends were sitting. Well, Harry was sitting, Ron was standing brandishing the wristwatch Hermione had given him for Christmas.
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed, standing up also. "You look a mess!"
"Thank you." Hermione drawled, falling into an armchair.
"I'm serious, Herm, look at yourself!" Hermione cast a weary eye over her robes. There were some severe rips from were Draco had held her a little too tight for comfort. She could feel her hair stuck to her face and probably looked a right mess, and her eyes stung from all the crying.
"Yeah, well, I fell." Both boys turned and looked at her in surprise.
"You fell?" Ron asked. He raised an eyebrow. "You ripped your robes and completely fucked up your hair falling?"
"Yes, Ron. That's what I said." Hermione said slowly. "And there's no rule saying I have to look pristine all the time you know. If I want my hair to be fucked up, it can just be fucked up. You reckon you could live with that?"
Ron breathed deeply and shut his eyes, trying to control his anger. "Ok. You're right, if you want your hair to be styled like that, that's up to you. But how do you explain the ripped robes?"
"I told you! I fell!" Hermione screamed and quickly hid her face in her hands. Ron sat down on the chair beside her and stooped so he was at her eye-level. He gently tipped her face to look at him.
"You've been crying." He said after a second of studying her face.
"Yes, Ron, I noticed that too." She murmured sarcastically. Ron sighed quietly.
"You met Malfoy didn't you?" Hermione's head snapped up at the mention of Draco's name.
"Why does everything have to do with fucking Draco Malfoy?" she whispered. Ron leant back in his chair and slowly shook his head.
"Hermione, that must've been one hell of a fall if it's got you worked up like this." He said.
"Well it was a big fall! I fell down the bloody entrance stairs if you must know!" she exclaimed.
"The entrance stairs?" Ron asked incredulously, standing. "Bloody hell, Hermione, we should get you to Madam Pomfrey!"
"Shut up!" she retaliated, jumping out of her chair. "You and your frigging Madam Pomfrey! Just leave me alone!" Ron stepped back, shocked.
"Hermione, I'm only trying to help you!" he pleaded.
"I know you are Ron, I know!" she cried. "But you have to learn that there are some things that you just can't help!"
"Please, Hermione, I only want to-"
"Help me…" she interrupted him. "Ron, you can't. Not anymore." With that last remark, Hermione swept out of the room and up the stairs to the safety of her dorm room.
Ron turned to the predominantly quiet Harry.
"What the fuck was that about?" he asked him. Harry shook his head.
"No bloody idea, mate." He sighed. "No bloody idea."
*~*~*~*~*
Hermione surveyed the damage on her ripped robes. She hadn't even noticed at the time that Draco had done this to her clothes, but neither of them had been thinking straight, she supposed. Well, she hoped, anyway.
She pulled her pyjama top over her head and climbed into her bed, brining the bed quilts up round her neck. She knew she shouldn't have gone off at Ron like that. He was only trying to help her. Basically, she hated herself, and Ron was the closest person to lash out at. Senseless theorem, yes, but there you had it.
The night's earlier events replayed themselves over and over again in her minds eye. She still couldn't comprehend what exactly went on with Draco earlier. The conversation echoed in her head. What had happened? More importantly, what was going to happen?
Hermione had hardly had any time to arrange her thoughts when a ray of light spilled across her bed and she heard Lavender enter the bedroom. Shutting her eyes tight, she pulled the covers closer. She mentally sighed as Lavender, making no effort to shut the door quietly, started singing a song that Hermione had heard a lot on Parvati's radio recently.
'…She said see ya later boy, he wasn't good enough for her. She had a pretty face but her head was up in space, she needed to come back down to earth…'
Hermione smirked into her pillow. Apt lyrics, even if she did say so herself. God, this was a sick and twisted world. 'Hermione Granger: a theme tune to the life of'. Come to think of it though, fundamentally she had rejected Draco on similar grounds as this singer. She had decided- decided, if you please – that she and Draco couldn't be.
"Hey, I was looking for you!" Hermione heard Parvarti's penetrating screech call from the doorway. She proceeded to slam the heavy door and bounded over to Lavender, landing on her bed with a thud.
"Well, I just came up here." The blonde girl answered. "Professor Trelawny said I could help look into her orb. I saw loads of really weird stuff!" Hermione mentally rolled her eyes. 'Yes, Lavender, that would be your reflection.'
"Oh. Why did she ask you and not me?" Parvati sounded upset. Lavender quickly burst into a stammered explanation of how she was passing by and just so happened to see the (slightly crazed) professor. To Hermione's surprise, Parvati seemed to accept this meagre attempt at an excuse.
"Ooh, where's your radio?" Lavender squealed.
"Under my bed!" The girl answered. 'You mean you actually set it down sometimes?' Hermione thought. She liked the girl and all, but at this moment in time, just about everything was pissing her off.
"Turn it on then!" Lavender reasoned. There was a lot of shuffling about which Hermione could only presume was Parvati looking for the device.
"Wait a minute." She heard her say. "What if we wake Hermione up?" Hermione was impressed. 'You mean you noticed I was here?'
"But she's asleep." Lavender retorted.
"Exactly…" Parvati said, confusion evident in her voice. Lavender sighed impatiently.
"Yeah, so if she's asleep, she won't be able to hear us."
'Wow, Lav.' Hermione thought. 'Genius thinking there.'
"Hey, you've got a point!" Parvati exclaimed as she turned on the radio to full blast; '…I know you're going to be upset…'
A soft knock at the door came moments later and Hermione heard one of the girls nosily move to the door and open it.
"Oh – Ron. Hi. What are you doing here?" Hermione clenched the blankets. Oh - oh.
"Um, Lavender, I need to speak with Hermione." His deep voice sounded out of place in the girls' room, which, since half way through third year, had been permanently cluttered with robes and 'Easy Peasy Hogsmeadey Weird, Wonderful and Wacky Hair Styling Serum' - a bit of a mouthful to say in the morning, anyway. However, it was not 'Easy Peasy' and usually ended up all over your hands and robes, as Hermione had found out when Lavender had persuaded her to style her hair differently in fifth year.
"Sorry, Ron, she's asleep." Answered an impatient Lavender.
"To the un-trained eye, she probably is. But I need to speak with her."
'The un-trained eye?'
"What do you mean to th- Hey, Ron! You can't just barge in here! This is a girls dorm, y'know! Hey!" Hermione clenched her eyes shut as she heard hurried foot steps come over to her bed. She felt Ron sit down beside her on the bed.
"Ron!" She recognised Parvati's voice. "Look, do you believe us now? She's asleep, God damnit! Get out before I call McGonagall!" Ron clucked his tongue.
"Ok, Hermione. You can 'wake up' now." He sighed.
She held her breath.
"Hermione, I've been your best friend for sixth years. I know when you're asleep and when you're faking it to get out of a situation you don't want to be in." God, she thought, am I really that obvious?
She rolled over and cautiously opened her eyes to find herself staring up into the sapphire eyes of one Ronald Weasley.
"Well look who it is!" he said in a mock-tone to a gob smacked Lavender and Parvati. Parvati dropped the radio on the bed and mumbled something incomprehensible, sauntering out of the room, Lavender not far behind.
"Ron, I'm sorry about earlier, really, I don't know what happened." Hermione let the words tumble out of her mouth. Ron smiled gently.
"It's ok. You're stressed - Harry and I know that. And I guess you're right, recently most conversations have been about that slimy, Slytherin, pretentious, fucking-"
"Ron." Hermione interrupted. He grinned broadly.
"Oh, yeah, what was I saying? Anyway, most conversations have been about…" he stalled for the right word. "…him recently, so Harry and I have decided that even though this is a big thing, you deserve to take your mind off it."
"Really? Well, what have Harry and you planned then?" she asked, smiling.
"Well, Madam," Hermione laughed at his French accent. "We thought we could all go on the Hogsmeade trip together this weekend."
"Well, Monsieur, that would be lovely." She smiled gratefully and he laughed, pulling her into a hug.
"Hermione?" he mumbled into her hair then lifted his head up to rest on her shoulder. "I know I said I wouldn't talk about Malfoy anymore, and I know you know this already, but he's bad news."
'…The one you warned me all about, the one you said I could do without, we're in an awful mess…'
"How do you mean?" she whispered. He pulled back and looked into her eyes.
"Well, I don't know whether or not you ran into him tonight, but if you say you didn't, then I guess that's good enough for me. I'm not going to make you tell me anything you don't want to. But I'm just telling you, you have no reason to protect him." Hermione bit her lip as Ron delivered this speech.
"Thank you." She managed to choke out. "Ron, you're a great friend."
"I know." He grinned. "I'm thinking of getting that put onto business cards – 'Ronald Weasley; friendship extraordinaire.'"
Hermione laughed quietly. "Yeah, why not?"
"Look Herm', I know you don't want to tell any teachers, and you didn't like my method of dealing with it, as much as I enjoyed it…"
"Ron!" she exclaimed.
"Ok, ok! I'm just saying, it's up to you, ok? You call the shots now. It's your decision."
Hermione smiled at him. "I know that now." She said quietly. "Thanks." Ron returned her smile and gently got up and left the room.
He was right. She knew that now. She had to come to a decision.
And she'd made that decision.
'…But I've made up my mind, oh, I'm keeping my baby, oh, I'm gonna keep my baby…'
A little note from me: Well, what did you all think of chapter 15 then? Please tell me! Sorry this is so late in coming out, but seriously, my computer turned against me. First of all FanFiction was down (I think it was, it's been so long I can't remember) and my computer crashed and it wouldn't work for a week and then all this other crap happened and all my stuff was on floppy's all over the joint and school started back and la-di-da-di-da the world just turned against me basically. And on top of it all, I was at a complete loss for what to write. I have 'mixed feelings' about this chapter. Some I'm happy with, some I'm…not, to put it nicely. Anyway, tell me what you think and I'll try better next time! So sorry for the delay!
Lily2000: I actually really liked your idea! I was thinking of doing something like that after I read your review but I'm not sure if it would work. I really don't know what I'm going to do! This story writes itself! Lol, thank you for reviewing!
The_Dragons_Girl: I'll try my best!
Femme Fatale: Yeah I was actually planning on him raping her but I couldn't! Plus that would make him into the 'really really bad guy' in this fic and I don't want to constrict what I can do next. Does that make sense? Lol. Yeah I love rock – how did you tell?!?! Lol ok guess I wasn't that subtle…and yes, that was Korn! Thanks for reviewing!!
C: thank you! I'm leaning towards your idea now!
DiOsA4u*: lol good luck with that club! Aw you're going mental? Now I feel bad for not updating sooner but I couldn't help it! I'm so sorry! Wow I'm on your top list – I'm very flattered! And yes, I'll try not to ruin it! What's your pen name because I can never find you?
Yotama: Yup – is it too heavy though? Hmm. Thanks for reviewing love!
Rina: One of the best you've read? Wow! Thank you! And yeah, I'm getting the general feeling that people think my Hermione is mean…whoops….lol thanks for reviewing!
And last, but not a chance in hell the least, Louise: Look! It's real! It's finally here!! I won't have to put up with you singing "15" all day! Lol I'm only joking love, you know I love ya! And thanks to you, I have finally sat down (Yes, it is 2am on a Saturday morning, but hey) and putting the last parts on this chapter. But there's more to come, don't worry; you won't have to resort to reading (gasps) set English class books! Dum dum dum!! (although some of them aren't that bad…I'll shut up now…)
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns all the Harry Potter lark and I'm just borrowing it, Madonna and more recently Kelly Osbourne performed (who owns it??) "Papa don't preach". K? We all got that? Cool.
If anyone wants me to e-mail them when I post a chapter, just leave a review with your e-mail address! Thanks!
mystical xx