A/N: Okay, in light of it being Hermione's birthday today and because I am afraid of Elmi (u really scare me girl!) I am going to update this story. I really feel like we are getting to the end of it.
Chapter 17: Flying
Hermione swivelled around, surprised, heart in her throat and watched as the door finished opening to reveal one of the two people she didn't want to see right now.
Hermione's gaze hardened and she hissed through her teeth. "Get out! You have no right to be here!" Even through the anger that she could feel building within her, she couldn't get up to shove him out. It would have been useless as he was so strong and her shove was a lot like being hit by a feather.
Draco shook his head dismissively and entered the room, locking it behind him. That did it. Hermione grabbed her wand and shoved past him to open the door. There was about two minutes where Draco sat languidly on her bed and watched her struggle with the locking spell. Every spell she tried was ineffective. "I wouldn't bother if I were you. They don't teach the counter curse for that spell at Hogwarts." He said unhelpfully.
Hermione cried in frustration and threw her wand aside. What use was it anyway if she could get the door open? Draco wasn't going to hurt her; though judging by the hardened look in his eyes and barely suppressed rage, she might have been wrong about that little detail. "Dark magic then is it?" Her back was pressed against the wall. She wanted to keep as much distance between them as she could. "I didn't think you were allowed to use that at Hogwarts."
Draco looked at her mockingly. "Just because you don't know a spell doesn't mean that it's Dark Magic. No matter what you think, you're not all knowing."
Hermione bristled. "I never said that I was! Now get out of my room. I have nothing to say to you."
"Well in case you couldn't tell by the locked door, I'm not going anywhere." His eye glinted malevolently as he stood and advanced upon her. It took all of Hermione's will not to cower as she was reminded forcibly of their destruction of the corridor. "I want an answer from you and I'm not leaving here without one." He said, barely about a whisper but the force behind it would have had a deaf person assuming that he had shouted.
"Well then I guess you're not leaving." Hermione said childishly. "There's nothing to discuss. You're an arrogant pig who thinks that every girl wants him. Not everything the human race does is about you for your information."
Draco smirked nastily. "But you do want me." He said without any shame. He was completely serious and he believed every word.
Hermione could literally feel the anger simmering. What did it matter if he was right? What did it matter if he was intuitive like hell? The fact was that Draco Malfoy was irreversibly big-headed. She shoved him; it didn't help so she did the next best thing and ducked from under his arm. She couldn't risk hitting him again because there was nowhere to run this time and she had never stuck around to see what Draco did after being slapped. There was no clever way of avoiding the question so she settled for asking one of her own. "Why does it bother you so much that I kissed Jason?" She walked the circumference of the room, putting her bed between them.
"Aside from the fact that it was very obvious that you did it to get at me, that child tries to get into the pants of any girl who'll have him…and some who won't" He crossed his arms and leant against the wall Hermione had been at only two seconds ago.
Hermione was outraged by his insinuations. She was the one to ask Jason, not the other way around but to admit that would be to admit that it had all been a deception and she couldn't bring herself to inflate that head any more. "You think he wanted to sleep with me? That's preposterous!" She didn't know how many times she had to say this. The blond was so adamant to believe it though. Maybe she just wasn't convincing enough. "It had nothing to do with you! Why do you have to be so bloody stubborn about it?"
Draco shrugged. "Well do you wonder why he agreed so readily to take part in your little play? Do you honestly think that he did it out of the goodness of his heart? Sorry Hermione but boys only think about one thing and that is when they can get their next lay." He was mocking her again and she knew it. "It's a lot better for your reputation if people to know that you did it with an older woman."
Hermione didn't want to admit it but something did click. His words held a ring of truth. There was nothing in it for Jason except to get a royal ass kicking from Draco if they were caught but if they weren't, Jason may have thought that she would have been willing. Hermione knew in her gut that she would never have let it get that far but did he?
Hermione threw her head back to get her hair out of her face and turned away from him. When she spoke, it was to the wall. "What makes you assume that it was all about you?"
"Because you either saw or found out that I had been kissing Blaise Zabini (ok, now I know that he's a boy but I didn't then) in the 'Three Broomsticks' and wanted revenge." He said easily, as if the words had just been waiting to roll off his tongue but he wasn't done. "Although, judging by the bang of the pub door and who was left glaring at me, I'm assuming u saw for yourself." He sounded so smug that Hermione wanted to punch him until he bled.
She counted to ten before she faced him. "I don't know what you're talking about. I was not at the 'Three Broomsticks'. I have already returned to the castle. We've spoken, you've swollen your head to even greater ranks and I'm kinda tired. I am also hungry so if you don't mind, unlock the door. I want to leave." She grabbed her wand and faced him, fully hoping that he had at least listened. He hadn't.
"No." He insisted. His anger had been replaced by a frank stubbornness and arrogance which seemed even worse.
"Fine!" She shouted. It was hard to hold her temper when he was being this annoying. "You stand there looking all smug and expedient. I don't care that you snogged Blaise. You can keep that door locked, I'm still leaving."
"Yeah!" He hissed unmoved. "And how do you expect to do that?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow, grabbed her broom which was conveniently within reach, mounted it and shot straight for the window which opened at her spell. Draco didn't have time to react at all. She could almost imagine his dumfounded look back in her bedroom.
Being back in the sky was an exhilarating and terrifying experience. She hadn't been on her broom since she was kidnapped from it and if Harry or Ron saw her now, they would try and coax her down but she didn't want to go down. The wind rushed through her hair and whistled lightly in her ears. Staying here would alert the attention of the other students and flying wasn't exactly a good way to avoid Draco so she aimed for the one place that Draco was afraid of yet was still on school grounds; the Forbidden Forest.
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Hermione settled herself onto the top of one of the smaller trees. It kept her off of the ground but also hid her from anybody flying around looking for her.
She didn't want to walk into the Forbidden Forest as the Centaurs still weren't happy to have humans wondering the forest. They didn't threaten death anymore – on Dumbledore's orders – but Bane really didn't like Hermione after she had purposefully led Umbridge into their midst.
Grawp had been found by Dumbledore. He hadn't seemed at all upset about finding out that a giant had been living in the Forest for a year and Grawp had done the immense favour of agreeing to take the place of the Dementors who had once guarded Azkaban. This had please the Centaurs but it was also the last time Hermione would venture into the place without a completely good reason.
She sat and looked at the sun glinting off of the raindrops on the leaves. There was nothing she loved more that sunshine right after a downpour. The whole world seemed to sparkle and glow. She sat away from the dense part of the forest, facing the castle. She could see people between the branches and leaves. They looked like tiny ants, scurrying around the castle and lake. It would be impossible to tell the difference between Ron and Harry at this distance.
They would probably be looking for her. It served Ginny and Julie right for leaving her there to deal with Draco so early in the morning. She really was hungry but she didn't want to go down. It was too soon to face Draco and he would certainly make a beeline for her if he caught sight of her.
"I would go down if I were you." Someone said from behind her. It was all Hermione could do not to fall off of her broom and plummet to the leafy floor. He turned her head slowly and glared at her sheepish looking best friend. "Sorry." He said by way of apology.
"I didn't hear you come up!" Hermione hissed.
"Advantages of being a Seeker. Allows you to sneak up on your opponents." Harry confided.
"I am your best friend! Not an opponent."
"Still. You wouldn't have heard me anyway. It seemed like you were pretty deep in thought."
Hermione shrugged. "Why are you here? I was hoping for some alone time."
"Ginny and Julez mentioned that a pretty pissed off Malfoy entered the Great Hall so I figured that he had either killed you or that you had given him the slip latter. I was hoping for the latter." Harry settled on the tree next to her. "You hate the Forbidden Forest."
"Well it's not the friendliest of creatures."
"And you're flying?"
"You can't die scared you know?" Hermione said exasperatedly.
"So what happened?"
"He walked into my room this morning and locked the door. I expected to see Ginny or Julie walk in but no…they left me there." Hermione scowled.
Harry grinned. "Well they were going to your room but they saw Malfoy walking in and thought it would be best if the didn't intervene."
"You think it's amusing that a Slytherin walks into my room?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"Well this one yes." Harry held back a laugh. "It's just that it's so obvious that you like him and we're all ok with it…" Harry trailed off at the look of outrage on her face.
"What!?" She bellowed. "Could everyone just stop this right now!? It's not fair that nobody listens to my side." Hermione stopped abruptly as Harry's hand covered her mouth.
"Hermione, I know how much you love to talk but this time, you are going to listen to me." When he was sure that she wasn't going to say anything, he let go of her. "Malfoy's bigheaded, we all know it but there is also the fact that he likes you. Now you two are being stubborn children. Ginny's my first proper girlfriend. I should have been scared to ask her out and I was but this – what you and Malfoy are doing - takes the biscuit. The way you two are adamant to destroy each other's lives rather than make it better…well I don't understand it." He shook his head like a disapproving father. "My advice is talk. Don't shout."
"You sound a lot like Julie." Hermione narrowed her eyes, scrutinising him.
"Well I never thought I'd say it but she's right." He held out his hand. "Want to go back?"
Hermione looked at his hand. "Harry, we're on brooms, your hand isn't going to help."
Harry shrugged and withdrew his hand. "We are still going back so come on."
Hermione followed him down to the even ground and dismounted. "I'm hungry."
"There's still food in the Great Hall." Harry led her there and showed her where Ron and Ginny were sitting and talking in hushed tones. Hermione wasn't bothered about hearing what they were saying. She sat with her back to the Slytherin table and said quietly. "Tell me he's not there."
Ginny finished talking to her brother and turned to Hermione. "So do you want me to tell you the truth or just say he's not there?"
Hermione threw her a disdainful look in which Ginny sighed, shrugged and said. "He left a little while ago."
Hermione groaned in relief and grabbed any kind of food that was within reach. "Calm down Hermione." Ginny cried as she relieved Hermione of the sprouts. She knew Hermione hated them. "There's enough food here. No need to imitate Ron."
Hermione smiled gratefully a got down to her breakfast.
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Hermione had swatted aside Julie's questions after breakfast promising to talk to her later. The day had gone by uneventfully as every weekend did in the school…unless they were risking life and limb to save somebody or the other. She had come across Harry and Ginny twice in the halls and ordered them back into the Gryffindor common room to continue with their endeavours because lower years didn't need to be privy to their behaviour.
The sun had fallen before Hermione entered the common room, broomstick in hand. She hadn't been back to return it because she didn't want another unpleasant encounter with Draco, if he wasn't on the grounds, he was obviously here.
Sure enough, as she looked around the room, she saw him sitting at his couch reading a book. She turned sharply and headed for their dormitory stairs, making sure to lock her bedroom door behind her. After returning her broom, she was torn between going downstairs to sort it out or relenting and going to sleep. The latter seemed more appealing but the former needed to come first.
She reached the bottom of the stairs only to find that Draco wasn't the only one in there now. Jason was sitting at the Ravenclaw couch, trying his best to look both invisible and unafraid of Draco. Draco on the other hand was glaring so obviously at the boy that she was sure she would have to tie him down to keep him from lunging.
He arrival didn't seem to have helped the situation any. If anything, Jason was now looking at her, silently asking for her help. Normally Hermione would have but Draco's forced 'chat' this morning had planted the seed of doubt within her. Did Jason have an ulterior motive? Whatever the reasoning, she needed to speak to Draco alone and Jason couldn't be there.
Hermione sighed. "If you don't mind, Jason. I need to speak to Draco alone."
Jason looked beyond relived as he nodded vigorously and almost flew up his staircase.
Hermione turned to him, her arms crossed. He sat on the couch, all previous traces of homicidal tension had vanished.
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Well there's another chapter gone and done with. I really don't want to finish this story but I don't know how much longer I can stretch it for. The civilised talk should be coming next.
Dina
P.S. Please review and please don't flame.
