A/N: Thanks to my reviewers again, you're the best!
Chapter 10
The next week passed, Hermione and Draco continued to ignore each other, which didn't go unnoticed by the other prefects and heads. They found it quiet and were glad of the peace, but were a bit concerned about the growing tension that seemed to surround the Slytherin and Gryffindor prefects. It always managed to work out that Hermione and Draco would be on separate patrols, this made it easier on them as neither knew what to say without starting an argument and they were still having issues about the ball.
"So they still not talking" Blaise said to Ginny as they walked to the abandoned classroom two weeks later, the classroom had become a sort of common room for them, Parvarti, Lavender and Draco.
"Nope. This is one they'll have to sort out on their own" Ginny replied
The five had taken to meeting every so often to hang out, have a gossip and generally get on. The girls felt bad hiding it from Harry and Ron, who asked where they kept running off to. But they just told them it was girls stuff, so they steered clear. That was until one night they decided to follow them under Harry's invisibility cloak
"I can't believe we're doing this" Harry whispered as they trailed far behind the girls down an abandoned corridor
"I want to see where they go. I mean why do they have to come all the way down here for 'girls stuff'" Ron replied "unless they're doing other stuff" he added with a suggestive tone
"You do realise that's your sister you're talking about" Harry commented
Ron shuddered at the thought and mentally slapped himself for thinking it. As they got to the room, they got a huge shock seeing Draco and Blaise already there.
"What the hell?" Ron whispered angrily
"Yeah" Harry agreed "I can see why Blaise is there, but Malfoy?"
"If he goes anywhere near them" Ron warned
The two boys listened outside the room to the voices inside, and it wasn't what Harry and Ron expected. They were friendly, all of them, they talked as if they had been friends for ages. Rons temper got the better of him and he stormed into the room before Harry could stop him
"What the hell is going on?"
"Hi Ron" Ginny said whilst looking a little guilty
"Guys, what is going on?" Harry demanded, a little more calmly than Ron did
"We're just talking, hanging out" Lavender admitted
"With Malfoy? No wonder you're down here" Ron yelled
"Ron, that's enough" Ginny said as she walked over to her brother and Harry
Ginny put her hand on Harry's arm and told him that Draco, like Blaise had changed, although both boys were sceptical at first and eyed Draco suspiciously, they soon came around and started having a good time without even realising it.
As the time drew on, they decided to go back to their dorms, Harry and Ron were still a bit unsure of the new Draco but were on orders from Ginny to give him a chance. As they were walking out of the room Harry asked what was going to happen in school hours, it was soon agreed they'd ignore each other for the most part, but still glare with the odd insult.
"So, same time tomorrow?" Lavender asked
"Can't, got a prefect meeting" Draco said
"We got Quidditch practice" Ron added
"OK, we'll have to do this again some other time" Lavender said as the Gryffindors walked one way and Draco and Blaise the other.
On the way back to their common rooms Draco and Blaise quietly discussed what had just happened
"I can't believe we just had a good time with Potter and Weasley" Draco stated "feels kinda weird"
"I know, but in a good way. At least they talked to us for who we were, we got to be our selves" Blaise commented "but I have to admit, if someone had said in earlier years that we'd end up on good terms with the 'Golden Trio' I'd have thought them insane"
Draco gave a small laugh "I don't know how you managed to get possibly the most popular Gryffindors to talk to you so quickly"
"Just had to take a chance, they're talking to you as well"
"That's where you are way ahead of me, they like you, they only tolerate me, not that I blame them, also all three members of the trio are talking to you" Draco admitted
"The girls like you, the boys will take some time and Hermione, well it would help if you actually spoke to her!" Blaise commented as they went their separate ways.
The next day as they were all at breakfast, Harry looked around the room and saw Draco and Blaise sitting amongst the Slytherins. Blaise was getting hassle from quite a few for having a Gryffindor girlfriend and being nice to them and some of the Slytherins were starting to get a bit suspicious of Draco.
"I feel sorry for them having to be over there, it can't be easy"
Ron mumbled an agreement with a mouthful of food, whilst Ginny and Parvarti looked over to the Slytherin table.
"Maybe we should help them out, throw a few insults today or something" Ginny offered
"Yeah, good idea" Harry agreed
So when breakfast had finished they all left the great hall for first class. Ginny had waited behind to tell Draco of the plan, which she quickly whispered as they walked out, pretending to glare at each other.
"Watch it, Potter" Draco snapped as he walked into Harry
"Sod off Malfoy" Ron replied
The Slytherins behind Draco watched keenly to see what would happen next, usually these meetings could get quite nasty, and there hadn't been one for a while. Draco made to leave in a huff, but could see Parvarti and Blaise out of the corner of his eye secretly signalling him to carry on insulting
"Ooh, got your Weasel boyfriend to stick up for you" Draco continued
Truth be told the boys were enjoying, it although they preferred not to insult each other, people hanging on every glare not knowing it was fake proved amusing. Harry was about to retaliate when Hermione came down the corridor having heard all of it, she was unaware that it was staged and thought there hadn't been a scene of this scale for a while. Even though she had feelings for Draco, Hermione could not ignore the fact that he was tormenting her best friends.
"Shut your mouth, ferret" Hermione shot, hating every moment
"Look, Potter's even got a mudblood to fight for him. How pathetic" Draco spat
His words stung both him and Hermione as well as shocking Blaise and Ginny. Draco felt guilty and wanted to end it there, this wasn't him anymore. Meanwhile the others wanted to end it, if it didn't stop now, it may get out of hand.
"Come on guys, he's not worth it" Ginny said coming to the rescue after seeing the hurt in her friends eyes.
As they turned to walk away relief swept through the former enemies, Draco made a small nod of thanks to Ginny, which went unnoticed by the eager onlookers.
The rest of the day progressed with a few glares and everyone ignoring each other but earlier events were heavy on their minds. The event led to the gang meeting in their room after dinner.
"I'm so sorry" Draco said when they were all there
"Us too" Ron replied
"It worked though" Blaise commented
They all talked for a while, until they had to leave for various reasons, leaving Draco, Blaise and Ginny in the room.
"Oh well, I better go to the prefect meeting. This is going to be hell" Draco sighed
"Talk to her" Blaise yelled after him
"Today was harsh" Ginny said as they decided to leave a few minutes later
"I know. I don't envy him, it must have been really hard for him" Blaise replied
"And Hermione. You should have seen the pain in her eyes"
"I hope they sort it out soon" Blaise said as the two parted
Draco got to the common room feeling really apprehensive, he had to face Hermione and possibly speak to her. He felt terrible about what he'd said but did not know what to say to her without messing up.
Inside the common room Hermione was having a similar problem, she didn't want to insult Draco earlier but it would have looked odd if she was there and remained quiet. Also he retaliated calling her a mudblood, he had not said that in a while and it hurt. Hell, they hadn't spoken since the ball (and that was a month ago) and tension was ever increasing.
"Right, now that we're all here" Jordan said as the heads and senior prefects sat round a table in the prefect library "let's get down to business"
"Dumbledore has decided to throw a ball on New Years Eve for anyone who wants to come" Jenna told everyone "He's organising it all, and its formal muggle dress"
This elicited a few strange looks from the prefects
"It should be interesting, and school ends in two and a half weeks " Jordan quipped
"Also, there's a storm warning tonight so on your patrols just warn your houses, I don't know what's with this weather." Jenna said "Right that's all on the official side" continued casting a glance at Hermione and Draco, both of them knew what was coming "Hermione, Draco, I know you two..."
Jordan cut her off, he didn't want to drag out the subject, the best way was to get it over with
"Whatever the problem is sort it out, at least when you were arguing it made sense" he looked at the two students who were looking at the table and avoiding each other "Got It?" he asked expectantly
"Yes" Hermione said quietly while Draco nodded
"Good, well we'll all patrol tonight so we can be in before the storm, so go in pairs. You two together" Jordan finished motioning at Draco and Hermione
They both nodded in acknowledgement, and proceeded to their patrol. Hermione thought about what had just been said, they couldn't talk without arguing and to make it worse another bloody storm. The thought crossed her mind that it could be another way to end up in his arms again, it felt so good. But no, at the moment she wasn't sure she wanted to speak to Draco again.
Draco thought this patrol may be a good chance to talk to Hermione, apologise, just make polite small talk, anything. She must hate him for what he said, he hated himself for it.
"You want to warn houses first?" Draco asked as they walked along a corridor
"OK" Hermione mumbled
They walked in silence as they went to the Slytherin dorms, Draco gave them the information and they then went to Gryffindor checking corridors as they went. When they got there Hermione went in and informed them of the warning. Whilst Hermione was inside Parvarti approached the painting
"Hey Draco, what's up?"
"Prefect duties, you?"
"Just going to meet the gang, we decided to catch up coz Quidditch was cancelled. Want to come for a bit?"
At that moment Hermione came out of the common room and looked at the two having a conversation. She knew they got on because of Blaise but didn't think they talked otherwise and where was she asking him to go.
"Hi Hermione, we're going to meet the guys, want to come?" Parvarti said
"What?" Hermione asked in confusion
"Hang on, I've just got to put these books away and I'll be back" Parvarti continued
Hermione was thoroughly confused. Draco took this opportunity before she found out her enemy and friends got on, to talk to her.
"I'm sorry for my comment earlier" Draco said quickly
"What? You are joking right?" Hermione said automatically then mentally slapped herself, what if he's being civil.
"No, I..." Draco went to continue but Parvarti came back out.
The three walked to the secret common room, where Hermione got a huge shock. Draco walked in after Parvarti because Hermione was trailing behind wondering what was going on. She couldn't believe her ears when she heard Harry's voice greeting Draco. When she entered the room Hermione was even more surprised to find Ginny, Ron and Lavender. She'd expected Blaise, but the others.
"Hi Mione" Ron said tentatively
Hermione didn't know how to react, here was her best friends and her enemy (who she had a crush on) being friends with each other, weren't they fighting earlier? Hermione shook her head in confusion.
"Uh Guys, what's going on?" She asked
"We often meet here, we're friends now" Lavender said untactfully
"Oh, well I'll leave you guys to it then" Hermione said angrily and walked out
Ginny went after her
"Mione wait"
"Why, you're missing all the fun in there" Hermione snapped
"Hold on, please listen" Ginny pleaded
"Listen to what? When were you going to tell me, were you even going to tell me?"
"I know you're angry but it just... happened"
"Gin, my best friends have made friends with our supposed enemy, and no one told me, how am I supposed to feel?"
With that Hermione stormed off with Ginny calling her. Ginny went back inside and told the others that Hermione didn't take it too well, which confused all of them except Ginny, Blaise and Draco. Blaise told the others that it was just a shock and that's why she reacted that way, they seemed to buy it. Draco once again felt guilty, it was pretty much his fault for the arguments between the friends. He decided he'd better find her and continue the patrol as it was getting late, at the same time the others decided to go back to their common rooms.
Hermione hadn't found anyone out after hours so far, she stood in a deserted corridor and leant against a wall. Thoughts ran through her head, about Draco, her friends and her own feelings, which were unfathomable at the moment. Just as luck would have it, the one person sneaking around at night, wandered around a corner, into the corridor Hermione was in, that person happened to be Pansy.
"Well mudblood, we meet again" Pansy shot
Not now, thought Hermione as she looked at the particularly nasty Slytherin. Noticing the look on Hermiones face, Pansy took the opportunity to hurl abuse at the Worn- out Gryffindor, even if she was head girl.
"Finally realised you've got no friends and taken to wandering the corridors alone. Even the ghosts can't stand the sight of you"
"Bugger off Pansy, before I take points off you"
With the run in Hermione just had comments like that hit home hard and fast but she willed herself not to show she was upset. This was unsuccessful as her face showed a different story
"Aw is the mudblood going to cry again, why don't you do everyone a favour, get lost in that storm tonight" Pansy hissed
At that point Draco came around the corner and heard that last insult
"Parkinson, what the bloody hell are you up to?" He yelled
"Just having some fun Draco" She purred back (or tried to)
"It's out of hours, get back to the common room"
"But Draaaacccoo"
"Unless you want points taken off" Draco stated firmly
"You're sticking up for that?" Pansy motioned to Hermione who was now sitting on the floor with her head in her hands.
"GO NOW" He said firmly, which made Pansy glare at him then leave, not even she stood up to Draco in a temper.
Just before she left she whispered venomously to Hermione to stay away from Draco. Draco saw Hermione and crouched beside her
"Hey, are you OK" He asked softly
"What do you care? I'm just a mudblood to you too" She yelled at him
"I'm so sorry about that, we didn't expect you to be around. It was all staged...2
"SAVE IT" She stated and ran back to the prefects common room
Draco and Hermione had been out much later than anticipated, so as Hermione made it to the end of the corridor the storm started up as Dumbledore had predicted. Hermione jumped in fright and let out a squeak
"Here we go again" Thought Draco as he ran to catch up with her.
It only took him a few seconds to get to her as a second clap of thunder sounded, Hermione flinched again and Draco pulled her to him and held her tightly. She loved that safe yet exciting feeling whenever she was in his arms so relaxed slightly, then realised, she was mad at him and pushed him away. Draco loved the fact he could calm her fear and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach at the loss of contact.
"Don't" she warned "Why do you do that? Just leave me alone"
"Let me take you back to the common room, please" Draco begged her
"Stay away from me"
"Fine, I was only trying to help" Draco yelled back as lightening flashed through a window
"I don't need your help!" Hermione shouted and ran back to the common room, wishing she wasn't so stubborn and was in Draco's arms. "Damn pride" she muttered
Draco was infuriated, he was mad at Hermione for pushing him away and not giving him a chance and mad at himself for letting himself get in such a state. He stomped back to the common room forcing himself to calm down.
A/N: Hope you're enjoying, I'll be away for the next few days camping, so post the next chapter up as soon as I can. If you like this, I've got a couple of others posted, give them a go! Thanx xx