A/N: I'm glad that you guys liked the last chapter. I wasn't sure if you
would or not. Just to let everyone know, there is only going to be 3 or 4
more chapters to this story then it will be over. :(
Also, I know that this story has a lot of drama and I'm sorry about that. I cant help it though. I am a total drama queen so most of the time everything I say, do or right is dramatic.
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter I most likely wouldn't be writing a fan fic now would I?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 25: Broken Heart, Angry Heart
Hermione ran up the stairs and around the corner as fast as she could. She ran into a bathroom, went to the first toilet and emptied her stomach.
'How could I have thought that he even changed much less cared about me! I cant believe that I was so stupid' Hermione was very upset with herself.
Hermione walked over to the sink and washed her mouth out and splashed some water on her heated face. She looked at herself in the mirror and became even more angry.
' Look what Draco Malfoy has done to me'
She wheeled around and pointed her wand at the stall she was just in.
"Abrumpo-rumpere!" she shouted. The stall door separated from its hinges and flew into the air.
"Ictus-discedo!" she shouted at the door which instantly blew up. Hermione then pointed her wand at the next stall and did the same thing she did to the first. She did this until all the stall doors were in pieces.
Hermione then turned around and pointed her wand at the mirror.
"Dirumpo-rumpere!" The mirror shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. She went around and did this to all of the mirrors.
She stopped at the last mirror and looked at herself. Her hair was matted to her face from the rain, her tears and sweat. She glared at her reflection then destroyed the mirror. She then turned her attention to the pipes under the sink.
"Scindo!" The pipes burst and water began to flow out of them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where is she Harry?" a frantic Ron asked his best friend.
"I don't know," came Harry's calm reply.
It had took everyone a few minutes to recover and come to their senses after what happened outside. Once everyone was back to normal Hermione's friends split up into groups to look for her.
"Any sign of her yet?" Blaise asked with a worried Ginny clinging to his side.
"Not yet," Harry answered. Ginny gave a small whimper as she looked around the Entrance Hall.
"We'll find her Gin," Blaise reassured her as he pulled her closer to him.
Ginny was terribly worried about her friend. She had never seen her best friend so upset.
All the sudden there was a loud shriek coming from the stairs. The group quickly turned their heads to see who it was. All secretly hoping that it was Hermione.
"SHE'S RUINING EVERYTHING!!!!!" Moaning Myrtle screamed. She flew up to Harry. "Your FRIEND is ruining my TOILET!!!"
The others began to run for the stairs while Harry ran through Myrtle feeling his whole body shiver from the cold sensation.
"Don't you run through me Harry!" Myrtle yelled after him. Harry ignored her as he rounded a corner, his friends in tow. Myrtle let out a shriek and disappeared down the hall.
The four friends ran into the bathroom and gasped at what they saw. Hermione stood in the middle of the bathroom with her wand pointed at the only window in the bathroom. Glass and door pieces surrounded her. Water was spraying from the pipes in all directions.
Hermione was a wreck herself. Her hair was matted to her face, her cloak was torn from flying glass pieces and her breathing was ragged. She had a few cuts from flying glass.
"Hermione?" Harry's voice was soft and pleading. He couldn't believe that this was his best friend standing in front of him.
Hermione glared at her friends. Her eyes narrowed and she let out an ear piercing scream.
"Dirumpo-rumpere!" she shouted. The window shook then shattered into a million tiny pieces that fell over her.
"Hermione," Harry pleaded. He slowly approached her.
Hermione slowly lowered her arm, dropping it to her side. She turned her head to look at Harry. Her eyes pleading him to help her. Harry did the only thing that he could do to help her at the time. He pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her tightly. Hermione let her arms lay limp at her side while she rested her head on Harry's chest.
Harry began to walk out of the bathroom and the others fallowed suit. But not without one last glance at the destroyed bathroom.
The five made it to Hermione's dorm. They climbed the stairs to her room and Harry sat Hermione on the edge of her bed. The four friends stood around her as they watched her. Her face was completely blank. She gripped her wand tightly as she stared into nothingness.
There was nothing any of them could do but watch their friend slowly change, and listen to the footsteps coming up the stairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once Hermione disappeared inside the castle, Draco stayed rooted to the spot while everyone around him ran for the safety of the castle.
Even as the rain continued to poor and the lightning continued to strike, Draco stayed where he was. He only had one thought on his mind:
'She loves me'
"Mr. Malfoy," came Snape's low monotone voice. "You better get inside."
Draco merely nodded and headed into the castle. His mind swarming with different thoughts but only one mattered the most.
'She loves me'
"What have I done," he whispered to himself.
"You've screwed up big time. That's what you've done," came a silky feminine voice behind him.
Draco didn't have to turn around to know who it was.
"What do you want Pansy?" he asked flatly.
"You've hit an all time low Draco. Even for you," Pansy stated. Her voice full of disgust.
"Excuse me?" he couldn't believe that she said that to him.
"You heard me," Pansy's voice was harsh. "Your known for breaking girls' hearts. Heaven knows that you've broke mine plenty of times." Draco cringed slightly at these words.
"Pretty much every girl here, including myself, were jealous of Hermione Granger. She was the one who got to tame the dragon and bring out the real Draco Malfoy. She fell in love with you and got you to fall in love with her."
Draco gaped. 'Fall in love with her. I'm not in love with Hermione. Am I?'
"Yes you are in love with her," Pansy said as if reading his thoughts. "Your just to stupid and blind to realize it. All three times that you've kissed her in public, everyone realized how much you love her."
Draco was confused. "I've only kissed Hermione twice in public. Except for the time we got caught in the hall."
Pansy shook her head. "Wrong Draco. You've kissed her three times in public. Once at Hogsmeade, once at the Valentines dance and once at the Halloween Ball."
"Wha..." Draco didn't even need to finish because he knew that Pansy was right. It made perfect sense.
Everything about Hermione was the same as Amy. Her body, her laugh, her smile, her soft sweet voice. Even her kisses.
"Oh Gods," Draco croaked out. He backed up against a wall and buried his head in his hands.
Pansy shook her head and let out a soft chuckle."You see, you've been with so many girls that every kiss and every touch is the same. You cant tell any of them apart. You remind me of your father."
Draco's head shot up. He glared daggers at Pansy but she took no notice.
"All those summers I spent at your house. Watching your father bring home a different woman each night. What really got to me though, was in the morning after each woman left, he'd kiss your mother good morning and tell her that he loved her. He'd been with so many different women that he couldn't tell one from the other, not even his own wife. He was so wrapped up in satisfying his needs that he didn't even know what love was. Just..like..you," Pansy finished putting emphasis on the last sentence.
Draco walked up to Pansy so their faces were only inches apart.
"I am NOTHING like my father," he said in such a cold voice that chills were sent down Pansy's spine.
She didn't care though. She was going to get through his thick skull if it was the last thing she did. She looked Draco dead in the eyes as she spoke once more.
"Then prove it. Prove all of us wrong. Prove that your not just another Lucius Malfoy."
Then there was a bang down the hall and Draco quickly turned around to see what it was.
Once he saw that it was just a bunch of first years who knocked over a suit of armor, he turned back around to face Pansy. But she was gone.
"I will prove it," he said to himself.
He then turned around and headed for his and Hermione's dorm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hermione," Draco called as he ran up the stairs that led to her room.
You could see the veins in Ron's forehead bulge as rage overtook him.
"He's mine," Ron informed the others.
"Her..." Draco was unable to finish as Ron's fist made contact with his nose. Before he had time to react, Draco was knocked to the ground. His ribs received a hard, swift kick before his face was attacked by Ron's fists.
Ron was absolutely furious. Draco Malfoy went beyond crossing the line. He hurt, humiliated and broke the heart of someone he loved. And in Ronald Weasely's eyes that was something that did NOT happen without severe punishment.
He was so caught up in his wrath that Ron failed to notice Harry and Blaise's desperate attempts to pull him off of Draco. He was oblivious to Ginny and Hermione's screaming pleas for him to stop. He was oblivious to everything, that is, until he went flying into the wall.
"That was most uncalled for Severus," a furious Professor Mcgonagall scolded the even more furious man beside her.
When Severus Snape entered the room to find his most prized student being beaten to a pulp, he couldn't help but curse the Weasely brat across the room.
"It most certainly was. Look what he's done to Mr. Malfoy," Snape retorted.
"I don't care! You should have handled it differently!" Minerva shot back.
"No I couldn't!" Snape hissed through gritted teeth. If that's even possible.
"Yes you..."
"That is enough!" came Dumbledore's unusually loud, stern voice.
Dumbledore was highly upset. Just when he thought Gryffindor and Slytherin were finally getting along this day happened. Even his heads of houses were fighting.
The students and Professors took one look at Dumbledore and dropped their heads. Except for Draco who was still on the ground trying to recover. The normal twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes was gone. Instead, his eyes were filled with disappointed. Everyone felt ashamed to know that they were the cause of that lose.
"That is enough," Dumbledore repeated more sternly. "I'm very disappointed in all of you. Even you Minerva and Severus. I thought that this incessant bickering between you had ended. But apparently I was wrong and that grieves me."
To say that everyone in that room felt bad, was an understatement.
Hermione had snapped out of her staring off into nothingness when Ron started to beat Draco. Sure she didn't mind Draco getting his ass kicked but Ron was surely to get into a ton of trouble. But now she was even more pissed. Nobody had ever been disappointed in her and to have the first person to feel that way about her be the Headmaster! Well, that was more than she could bare.
Draco felt bad but he was more pissed than anything. He was pissed about what happened earlier with Hermione, pissed that Pansy Parkinson, of all people, chewed him out and not to mention that she was right about everything. He was pissed that Weasely beat the shit out of him and pissed that he couldn't talk to Hermione. And now, to top it all off, thanks to the stupid Weasely, the Headmaster was pissed at him. And well, quite frankly, that pissed him off even more.
Ron, Harry, Blaise and Ginny all felt terrible about everything. And Snape and Mcgonagall were beside themselves.
"I fear," Dumbledore went on. "That my dreams for your two houses to unite, will never come true," Dumbledore sighed but when he spoke again his voice was firm.
"But, even if your houses are not friendly with one another, I will not tolerate any more of this. If I see or hear of another fight, I will not cease to provide serious punishment. One hundred points from your house will be taken and one week of detention will be served with Filch for every student caught in a fight."
Dumbledore looked around at the tops of the lowered heads around him and shook his own head. He never wanted to do what he just did but it was time that it was done.
"Mr. Malfoy, you are to go to the infirmary and get yourself cleaned up. When you are done you are to return to your dorm at once. Miss Granger, you are to remain here. As for the rest of you," he looked pointedly at Ron, Harry, Blaise and Ginny. "You are to return to your respective common rooms until tomorrow. The house elves will bring your dinner to you. Is that understood?"
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
"Very well. Be on your way then." Everyone began to leave.
Draco stocked out first followed by Blaise and the others who all gave Hermione a look of sympathy.
"Severus, if you would please escort Mr. Malfoy and Minerva if you would follow the students to assure that they get to their destinations in an orderly fashion. I have something to discuss with Miss Granger."
Snape and Mcgonagall nodded their heads and left. Dumbledore then turned his attention to Hermione. He shook his head as he saw her grim expression.
"Miss Granger?"
Hermione barely snapped out of whatever trance it was she was in and looked up.
"Yes Headmaster."
"There is the matter of the restroom you seem to have, well there's no way to put this lightly, destroyed."
Hermione grimaced. "I'm...I'm sorry about that."
"I know you are. I also know about what you went through earlier but that is no excuse for what you did. I'm afraid that I am going to have to take one hundred points from Gryffindor and you will have to serve a weeks worth of detention with Filch."
Hermione cringed. 'Great' she thought.
"Yes Headmaster," she said in understanding.
Dumbledore nodded his head. "Good evening then Miss Granger." And with that he left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All was quiet in the Gryffindor common room except for the light chatter amongst various groups.
"Poor Hermione," Lavander Brown said as she stared into the fire.
Ginny, Harry, Neville, Parvati, Lavander, Dean and Seamus sat in a semi- circle around the fire place. Ron paced back and forth behind them.
"To bad we missed Ron beating the crap out of Malfoy," Dean commented.
"To bad I didn't get to finish beating the crap out of him," Ron said.
Ginny glared at her brother. Sure Draco got what he deserved but how can they think of fighting after what Dumbledore said. And poor Hermione, sitting in her room all by herself and with Draco's room right across from hers. Although, Ginny was a tiny bit worried that Hermione might do something to Draco. Ginny stood up and began to head for the girls' stairs. "Where are you going Gin?" Ron asked as he stopped pacing.
"Away from you," she snapped then left.
"What did I do?" Ron asked. The others ignored him and went on with their conversations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Draco walked into his common room. He looked up at Hermione's door hoping that there was still a light on so he could talk to her. But it was to no avail, all of her lights were off. Draco sighed and headed up to his room, not caring about the cold food on one of the end tables. He undressed until he was in his boxers then climbed into bed hoping that he would fall asleep right away. Instead, his mind replayed the events of the day.
'I have to talk to Hermione. She doesn't think that I care about her which is a huge mistake. And what the hell was Pansy talking about. Me loving Hermione? I don't think so. I just don't fall in love. I can deeply care about someone and like them a lot but not love them. I just don't know how. Hermione will understand once I explain it to her. That is if I can even talk to her'
Draco groaned and rolled over onto his side eventually falling asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the room across from Draco's a young woman lay in her bed as a soft sob escaped her lips. The moons rays cast soft shadows throughout the room as they shined through her opened window. Her tears glistened as the rays hit her face and her body shook from those silent tears. Her curtains and bed hangings enjoyed themselves as they swayed in the cool breeze while this young woman's heart was aching.
Hermione wiped away the tears falling down her cheeks. No matter how hard she tried to sleep she just couldn't. Every time she closed her eyes images from the day would plague her thoughts. She let out another small sob as an image of Draco kissing Melinda found its way into her mind.
Hermione wasn't only crying because Draco broke her heart. She was mainly crying because she couldn't believe that she was so stupid. She was mad at herself for thinking that Draco could actually love her, let alone anyone. In all honesty, she was more upset then she was heartbroken.
She turned on her side, her back facing the window, and wiped away a few more tears.
'Stop crying Hermione' she scolded herself. 'Forget about Draco Malfoy. He's nothing to you anymore just like your nothing to him. He's not worth it' Hermione sighed. She sniffed her last sniffle and wiped away her last tears. She was not going to cry because of one Draco Malfoy.
She scolded herself a few more times for being the biggest fool in the world and eventually feel asleep with one last thought on her mind:
'Draco Malfoy is nothing to me'
Also, I know that this story has a lot of drama and I'm sorry about that. I cant help it though. I am a total drama queen so most of the time everything I say, do or right is dramatic.
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter I most likely wouldn't be writing a fan fic now would I?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 25: Broken Heart, Angry Heart
Hermione ran up the stairs and around the corner as fast as she could. She ran into a bathroom, went to the first toilet and emptied her stomach.
'How could I have thought that he even changed much less cared about me! I cant believe that I was so stupid' Hermione was very upset with herself.
Hermione walked over to the sink and washed her mouth out and splashed some water on her heated face. She looked at herself in the mirror and became even more angry.
' Look what Draco Malfoy has done to me'
She wheeled around and pointed her wand at the stall she was just in.
"Abrumpo-rumpere!" she shouted. The stall door separated from its hinges and flew into the air.
"Ictus-discedo!" she shouted at the door which instantly blew up. Hermione then pointed her wand at the next stall and did the same thing she did to the first. She did this until all the stall doors were in pieces.
Hermione then turned around and pointed her wand at the mirror.
"Dirumpo-rumpere!" The mirror shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. She went around and did this to all of the mirrors.
She stopped at the last mirror and looked at herself. Her hair was matted to her face from the rain, her tears and sweat. She glared at her reflection then destroyed the mirror. She then turned her attention to the pipes under the sink.
"Scindo!" The pipes burst and water began to flow out of them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where is she Harry?" a frantic Ron asked his best friend.
"I don't know," came Harry's calm reply.
It had took everyone a few minutes to recover and come to their senses after what happened outside. Once everyone was back to normal Hermione's friends split up into groups to look for her.
"Any sign of her yet?" Blaise asked with a worried Ginny clinging to his side.
"Not yet," Harry answered. Ginny gave a small whimper as she looked around the Entrance Hall.
"We'll find her Gin," Blaise reassured her as he pulled her closer to him.
Ginny was terribly worried about her friend. She had never seen her best friend so upset.
All the sudden there was a loud shriek coming from the stairs. The group quickly turned their heads to see who it was. All secretly hoping that it was Hermione.
"SHE'S RUINING EVERYTHING!!!!!" Moaning Myrtle screamed. She flew up to Harry. "Your FRIEND is ruining my TOILET!!!"
The others began to run for the stairs while Harry ran through Myrtle feeling his whole body shiver from the cold sensation.
"Don't you run through me Harry!" Myrtle yelled after him. Harry ignored her as he rounded a corner, his friends in tow. Myrtle let out a shriek and disappeared down the hall.
The four friends ran into the bathroom and gasped at what they saw. Hermione stood in the middle of the bathroom with her wand pointed at the only window in the bathroom. Glass and door pieces surrounded her. Water was spraying from the pipes in all directions.
Hermione was a wreck herself. Her hair was matted to her face, her cloak was torn from flying glass pieces and her breathing was ragged. She had a few cuts from flying glass.
"Hermione?" Harry's voice was soft and pleading. He couldn't believe that this was his best friend standing in front of him.
Hermione glared at her friends. Her eyes narrowed and she let out an ear piercing scream.
"Dirumpo-rumpere!" she shouted. The window shook then shattered into a million tiny pieces that fell over her.
"Hermione," Harry pleaded. He slowly approached her.
Hermione slowly lowered her arm, dropping it to her side. She turned her head to look at Harry. Her eyes pleading him to help her. Harry did the only thing that he could do to help her at the time. He pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her tightly. Hermione let her arms lay limp at her side while she rested her head on Harry's chest.
Harry began to walk out of the bathroom and the others fallowed suit. But not without one last glance at the destroyed bathroom.
The five made it to Hermione's dorm. They climbed the stairs to her room and Harry sat Hermione on the edge of her bed. The four friends stood around her as they watched her. Her face was completely blank. She gripped her wand tightly as she stared into nothingness.
There was nothing any of them could do but watch their friend slowly change, and listen to the footsteps coming up the stairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once Hermione disappeared inside the castle, Draco stayed rooted to the spot while everyone around him ran for the safety of the castle.
Even as the rain continued to poor and the lightning continued to strike, Draco stayed where he was. He only had one thought on his mind:
'She loves me'
"Mr. Malfoy," came Snape's low monotone voice. "You better get inside."
Draco merely nodded and headed into the castle. His mind swarming with different thoughts but only one mattered the most.
'She loves me'
"What have I done," he whispered to himself.
"You've screwed up big time. That's what you've done," came a silky feminine voice behind him.
Draco didn't have to turn around to know who it was.
"What do you want Pansy?" he asked flatly.
"You've hit an all time low Draco. Even for you," Pansy stated. Her voice full of disgust.
"Excuse me?" he couldn't believe that she said that to him.
"You heard me," Pansy's voice was harsh. "Your known for breaking girls' hearts. Heaven knows that you've broke mine plenty of times." Draco cringed slightly at these words.
"Pretty much every girl here, including myself, were jealous of Hermione Granger. She was the one who got to tame the dragon and bring out the real Draco Malfoy. She fell in love with you and got you to fall in love with her."
Draco gaped. 'Fall in love with her. I'm not in love with Hermione. Am I?'
"Yes you are in love with her," Pansy said as if reading his thoughts. "Your just to stupid and blind to realize it. All three times that you've kissed her in public, everyone realized how much you love her."
Draco was confused. "I've only kissed Hermione twice in public. Except for the time we got caught in the hall."
Pansy shook her head. "Wrong Draco. You've kissed her three times in public. Once at Hogsmeade, once at the Valentines dance and once at the Halloween Ball."
"Wha..." Draco didn't even need to finish because he knew that Pansy was right. It made perfect sense.
Everything about Hermione was the same as Amy. Her body, her laugh, her smile, her soft sweet voice. Even her kisses.
"Oh Gods," Draco croaked out. He backed up against a wall and buried his head in his hands.
Pansy shook her head and let out a soft chuckle."You see, you've been with so many girls that every kiss and every touch is the same. You cant tell any of them apart. You remind me of your father."
Draco's head shot up. He glared daggers at Pansy but she took no notice.
"All those summers I spent at your house. Watching your father bring home a different woman each night. What really got to me though, was in the morning after each woman left, he'd kiss your mother good morning and tell her that he loved her. He'd been with so many different women that he couldn't tell one from the other, not even his own wife. He was so wrapped up in satisfying his needs that he didn't even know what love was. Just..like..you," Pansy finished putting emphasis on the last sentence.
Draco walked up to Pansy so their faces were only inches apart.
"I am NOTHING like my father," he said in such a cold voice that chills were sent down Pansy's spine.
She didn't care though. She was going to get through his thick skull if it was the last thing she did. She looked Draco dead in the eyes as she spoke once more.
"Then prove it. Prove all of us wrong. Prove that your not just another Lucius Malfoy."
Then there was a bang down the hall and Draco quickly turned around to see what it was.
Once he saw that it was just a bunch of first years who knocked over a suit of armor, he turned back around to face Pansy. But she was gone.
"I will prove it," he said to himself.
He then turned around and headed for his and Hermione's dorm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hermione," Draco called as he ran up the stairs that led to her room.
You could see the veins in Ron's forehead bulge as rage overtook him.
"He's mine," Ron informed the others.
"Her..." Draco was unable to finish as Ron's fist made contact with his nose. Before he had time to react, Draco was knocked to the ground. His ribs received a hard, swift kick before his face was attacked by Ron's fists.
Ron was absolutely furious. Draco Malfoy went beyond crossing the line. He hurt, humiliated and broke the heart of someone he loved. And in Ronald Weasely's eyes that was something that did NOT happen without severe punishment.
He was so caught up in his wrath that Ron failed to notice Harry and Blaise's desperate attempts to pull him off of Draco. He was oblivious to Ginny and Hermione's screaming pleas for him to stop. He was oblivious to everything, that is, until he went flying into the wall.
"That was most uncalled for Severus," a furious Professor Mcgonagall scolded the even more furious man beside her.
When Severus Snape entered the room to find his most prized student being beaten to a pulp, he couldn't help but curse the Weasely brat across the room.
"It most certainly was. Look what he's done to Mr. Malfoy," Snape retorted.
"I don't care! You should have handled it differently!" Minerva shot back.
"No I couldn't!" Snape hissed through gritted teeth. If that's even possible.
"Yes you..."
"That is enough!" came Dumbledore's unusually loud, stern voice.
Dumbledore was highly upset. Just when he thought Gryffindor and Slytherin were finally getting along this day happened. Even his heads of houses were fighting.
The students and Professors took one look at Dumbledore and dropped their heads. Except for Draco who was still on the ground trying to recover. The normal twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes was gone. Instead, his eyes were filled with disappointed. Everyone felt ashamed to know that they were the cause of that lose.
"That is enough," Dumbledore repeated more sternly. "I'm very disappointed in all of you. Even you Minerva and Severus. I thought that this incessant bickering between you had ended. But apparently I was wrong and that grieves me."
To say that everyone in that room felt bad, was an understatement.
Hermione had snapped out of her staring off into nothingness when Ron started to beat Draco. Sure she didn't mind Draco getting his ass kicked but Ron was surely to get into a ton of trouble. But now she was even more pissed. Nobody had ever been disappointed in her and to have the first person to feel that way about her be the Headmaster! Well, that was more than she could bare.
Draco felt bad but he was more pissed than anything. He was pissed about what happened earlier with Hermione, pissed that Pansy Parkinson, of all people, chewed him out and not to mention that she was right about everything. He was pissed that Weasely beat the shit out of him and pissed that he couldn't talk to Hermione. And now, to top it all off, thanks to the stupid Weasely, the Headmaster was pissed at him. And well, quite frankly, that pissed him off even more.
Ron, Harry, Blaise and Ginny all felt terrible about everything. And Snape and Mcgonagall were beside themselves.
"I fear," Dumbledore went on. "That my dreams for your two houses to unite, will never come true," Dumbledore sighed but when he spoke again his voice was firm.
"But, even if your houses are not friendly with one another, I will not tolerate any more of this. If I see or hear of another fight, I will not cease to provide serious punishment. One hundred points from your house will be taken and one week of detention will be served with Filch for every student caught in a fight."
Dumbledore looked around at the tops of the lowered heads around him and shook his own head. He never wanted to do what he just did but it was time that it was done.
"Mr. Malfoy, you are to go to the infirmary and get yourself cleaned up. When you are done you are to return to your dorm at once. Miss Granger, you are to remain here. As for the rest of you," he looked pointedly at Ron, Harry, Blaise and Ginny. "You are to return to your respective common rooms until tomorrow. The house elves will bring your dinner to you. Is that understood?"
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
"Very well. Be on your way then." Everyone began to leave.
Draco stocked out first followed by Blaise and the others who all gave Hermione a look of sympathy.
"Severus, if you would please escort Mr. Malfoy and Minerva if you would follow the students to assure that they get to their destinations in an orderly fashion. I have something to discuss with Miss Granger."
Snape and Mcgonagall nodded their heads and left. Dumbledore then turned his attention to Hermione. He shook his head as he saw her grim expression.
"Miss Granger?"
Hermione barely snapped out of whatever trance it was she was in and looked up.
"Yes Headmaster."
"There is the matter of the restroom you seem to have, well there's no way to put this lightly, destroyed."
Hermione grimaced. "I'm...I'm sorry about that."
"I know you are. I also know about what you went through earlier but that is no excuse for what you did. I'm afraid that I am going to have to take one hundred points from Gryffindor and you will have to serve a weeks worth of detention with Filch."
Hermione cringed. 'Great' she thought.
"Yes Headmaster," she said in understanding.
Dumbledore nodded his head. "Good evening then Miss Granger." And with that he left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All was quiet in the Gryffindor common room except for the light chatter amongst various groups.
"Poor Hermione," Lavander Brown said as she stared into the fire.
Ginny, Harry, Neville, Parvati, Lavander, Dean and Seamus sat in a semi- circle around the fire place. Ron paced back and forth behind them.
"To bad we missed Ron beating the crap out of Malfoy," Dean commented.
"To bad I didn't get to finish beating the crap out of him," Ron said.
Ginny glared at her brother. Sure Draco got what he deserved but how can they think of fighting after what Dumbledore said. And poor Hermione, sitting in her room all by herself and with Draco's room right across from hers. Although, Ginny was a tiny bit worried that Hermione might do something to Draco. Ginny stood up and began to head for the girls' stairs. "Where are you going Gin?" Ron asked as he stopped pacing.
"Away from you," she snapped then left.
"What did I do?" Ron asked. The others ignored him and went on with their conversations.
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Draco walked into his common room. He looked up at Hermione's door hoping that there was still a light on so he could talk to her. But it was to no avail, all of her lights were off. Draco sighed and headed up to his room, not caring about the cold food on one of the end tables. He undressed until he was in his boxers then climbed into bed hoping that he would fall asleep right away. Instead, his mind replayed the events of the day.
'I have to talk to Hermione. She doesn't think that I care about her which is a huge mistake. And what the hell was Pansy talking about. Me loving Hermione? I don't think so. I just don't fall in love. I can deeply care about someone and like them a lot but not love them. I just don't know how. Hermione will understand once I explain it to her. That is if I can even talk to her'
Draco groaned and rolled over onto his side eventually falling asleep.
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In the room across from Draco's a young woman lay in her bed as a soft sob escaped her lips. The moons rays cast soft shadows throughout the room as they shined through her opened window. Her tears glistened as the rays hit her face and her body shook from those silent tears. Her curtains and bed hangings enjoyed themselves as they swayed in the cool breeze while this young woman's heart was aching.
Hermione wiped away the tears falling down her cheeks. No matter how hard she tried to sleep she just couldn't. Every time she closed her eyes images from the day would plague her thoughts. She let out another small sob as an image of Draco kissing Melinda found its way into her mind.
Hermione wasn't only crying because Draco broke her heart. She was mainly crying because she couldn't believe that she was so stupid. She was mad at herself for thinking that Draco could actually love her, let alone anyone. In all honesty, she was more upset then she was heartbroken.
She turned on her side, her back facing the window, and wiped away a few more tears.
'Stop crying Hermione' she scolded herself. 'Forget about Draco Malfoy. He's nothing to you anymore just like your nothing to him. He's not worth it' Hermione sighed. She sniffed her last sniffle and wiped away her last tears. She was not going to cry because of one Draco Malfoy.
She scolded herself a few more times for being the biggest fool in the world and eventually feel asleep with one last thought on her mind:
'Draco Malfoy is nothing to me'