"Can't we just... Pretend it never happened?" Ron said, and there was no hiding the hurt that had then appeared on Hermione's face.
"Are you saying you're sorry that it did? That you want to forget about it?" she asked, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
"Well, yes," Ron said.
Hermione looked at him angrily.
"I mean, no," he quickly amended. "I'm not sorry and I don't want to forget."
"What then?" she asked.
"I just... I just..." Ron stammered. "I just want things back to the way they were. Before, before any of... You know, back when we were just..." his voice trailed off.
"When we were just friends," she finished for him, the tone of her voice bitter.
"Well, there's nothing wrong with being friends, is there?" Ron asked.
Hermione groaned. "It's not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just--" she paused, seeing the worried look on his face. "Oh, forget it!" she groaned and then stalked off, leaving Ron dumbfounded.
He just doesn't get it, Hermione thought as she wiped another tear from her face and leaned onto the balcony overlooking the Quidditch Pitch. It hurt her like hell but she couldn't stop thinking about that earlier episode with Ron, when he finally did apologize to her, but for all the wrong reasons. He just doesn't get it, she thought again, and again, remembering what he had said.
"Can't we just pretend it never happened?
She groaned. She heard it over and over in her head and it was like the projection he and Harry had shown earlier at the Great Hall. Except that what was playing in her head was real. Ron wasn't ready for a relationship, and from the looks of it, he never will be.
She closed her eyes and when she opened them, found that her vision was blurry. She frowned. Wiping her face with a handkerchief, she took deep, long breaths to keep herself from crying. Merlin knew, she'd already cried enough that week. She sighed heavily and leaned even lower onto the railing.
"He's not coming you know," a low, icy voice said.
Hermione froze. She didn't want to talk to anyone tonight, much less him. And what was he doing anyway in their balcony? She thought, and then frowned, remembering that she and Ron were back to being just friends and so whatever promises made on that balcony, where they'd shared their first (and only) kiss, were now probably nullified. And also, Malfoy's presence on it was enough to ruin the special meaning of the place. "Go away, Malfoy," she said, finally finding her voice.
"Why?" Malfoy said. "Are you disappointed I'm not Weasley?" he asked. "Disappointed that I don't have that ugly excuse of a hair color and the wreak of poverty oozing from my ears?"
"Why you arrogant--" Hermione paused. She'd turned and expected him to be at least a few steps away, considering how soft his voice was, but she nearly bumped into him instead. She tried to step back but felt the hard cement of the balcony preventing her from putting more distance between them.
"Or are you too glad that it's me, you can't handle it?" he asked, and she stepped sideways to get away. Quickly, he placed his arms on either side of her, trapping her in place. "I don't think so," he said.
Hermione sighed in resignation. Refusing to look up at him, she asked, "What do you want?"
"My innocence," he replied.
"Ha!" she snapped. "That'll be difficult to get, considering you never had it."
"Don't get smart with me Granger, I don't like this any more than you do."
"Good, then you can leave," she told him.
"Not until I get what I want," he said, leaning closer.
"Ugh! If you think I'm going to kiss you again--"
"Don't flatter yourself, Granger, now shut up and listen," he cut her off. "You're going to tell everyone at Hogwarts that it wasn't me that they saw this morning at the Great Hall. You're going to tell everyone that it was Potter and Weasley and that it was because of the Potion that Snape gave us," he said.
"If you're trying to hypnotize me Malfoy, you forgot your swinging pocket watch," she said.
"I'm not trying to hypnotize you," he said.
"Well you should," she told him. "Because that's the only way you'll get me to squeal on my friends."
"Oh? Not even if I say that I'll tell everyone that you've been sneaking into this balcony every night to go snogging with Weasley?"
Hermione's eyes widened in alarm, but then realized Malfoy was bluffing. "I don't go 'snogging with Weasley' as you so crudely put it, every night, but even if I did, you don't have proof of that. Nobody will believe you," she said. "In case you haven't noticed, Malfoy, you're not very popular right now, not even in your own House," she added.
"Which is why you're going to do this for me," he said.
"You're dreaming," she countered. "There is nothing you can use against me to make me do this and you know it," she said proudly.
"Oh really?" he said confidently. He'd expected something like this from Granger and he wasn't a fool to not have thought of a plan. "So you mean it's okay for me to tell Weasley himself exactly where I was the night he and Potter came up with their brilliant plan?"
Hermione gasped. "You wouldn't!" she said, her voice quivering. "You can't! You just can't!"she panicked.
Malfoy gave her a pointed look. "Trying to hypnotize me, Granger?" he asked. "You forgot your swinging pocket watch."
She thought of something else to say to get her out of the stupid predicament, but for the first time in her life, she didn't have any useful ideas. She sighed exasperatedly.
Malfoy took it as a sign of defeat and smiled triumphantly. "I thought so," he said, and only then did he pull back his arms away from her, now that the threat of her leaving was gone. "Now, first things first," he started, stepping back from her and walking closer towards the door. Hermione immediately felt the cool breeze as soon as they were apart. "We need to convince Brooks as 1/3 of the fault belongs to the bloody bastard. Of course he wouldn't believe me alone--"
"And why would he?" Hermione interrupted.
Malfoy ignored her. "But if his best student is there," he said, turning to look at her. "that would be you," he continued. "then he'll be as gullible as Longbottom, I gather," he finished and raised an eyebrow at her. "Meet me outside his classroom after breakfast tomorrow. It's Saturday anyway and I don't want to waste any time."
She grimaced. "Then why aren't you leaving yet?"
Malfoy frowned. He really had been about to leave and meant for his last statement to be something he'd called to her from afar, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to walk away just yet. He felt as though there was something else he had to say but couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He furrowed his eyebrows at her.
"Well?" Hermione prompted, annoyed at how Malfoy was looking at her. His cold gray eyes were piercing and it made her feel self-conscious, as if she was being evaluated, and worse, as if it mattered to her that she was.
"Well," he echoed, almost as if he was asking it to himself. "Why aren't you leaving?" he said lamely.
The look on her face was angry and confused. "Fine!" she said and started for the glass doors. She'd already slid them open when she felt a tug on her arm.
Malfoy pulled her back. And then he pulled her close. And then he kissed her, hard, and fast, as though he was just being forced to do it.
Hermione's arms went flailing at her sides as she struggled to break free from his grasp. She had closed her eyes, but only because she couldn't stand the thought of seeing Malfoy that close. Shuffling her feet beneath her, she was able to step on his foot long enough for him to loosen his grip and for her to push him away. Fire was ablaze in her eyes. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, wiping her lips with the back of her hand.
The silver in Draco's eyes reflected the fury in Hermione's brown ones. But there was another emotion Hermione couldn't comprehend. Malfoy was confused, and he was angry like hell at himself for being so. He looked at Granger again, jaw set, fists clenched and if possible, the expression in his eyes even colder.
He stalked off, leaving Hermione biting her lip, but only to keep them from trembling.
Author's Note: Hey! I know I haven't update in a long time, and probably a lot of you have abandoned this fic because of that, and although I hope the length of this is okay to compensate for the last two extremely short chapters, I also feel that maybe this is getting too lame to continue. Are Draco and Hermione getting too out of character? I really hope to read your reviews. I already have an idea as to what the overall theme of this would be, but it might take me a while before I get to put everything together. In any case, thanks very much for reading, and hope you wait for my updates. :)
Special thanks to Smrt cids, Avery-88, chamorro, Mojo the Rock Chick Munchkin (cool name!), Galladria Perennial, Marz#1, emeralgray, Bubblemonkey, Erythros, Chiara and Pippa, Shattered Halo, Mariah Nerissa, xXxSweetPoisonxXx, muggle lover and absentmindedgenius, and freetoread21 (who I'm sure will be reading this because it's part of the A/Ns). If you're not one of these people, I hope you become more like them, and leave a review, any kind will do.
Even more special thanks are due marina star, average jane, Lucyferina, snowyangel83, Tandy, Hermione Double and mis-soccer, as they also read my other fic (The Polyjuice Effect) and also left a review for it.
In case I missed anyone, please remind me. Again, thanks very much, and please don't abandon me. :)