Yokai Cesia and Chi: Harry and Ron? You'll find out in this chapter
Deep blue quill: thanks for your review!!...really cool coming from a boy...usually its girls who comment on these things...ha-ha.
A/N: if you could make any negative comments? I like being put down lol...tell me if there are needs for improvement, and I'll do my best to keep up with your 'demands'. And please review..??Please...?
Chapter 12: Hogsmeade
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Disclaimer: I'm getting tired of saying that I don't own HP so this'll be the last disclaimer I'll ever put up and it counts for the rest of the fanfic.
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Draco and Hermione swooped down and landed behind Hagrid's hut. Hermione was secretly smiling, and Draco was feeling...different. They got off the broom, and Draco gave it to his eagle owl, which was waiting on the tree branch. They were both very silent as they walked back to the feast. Hermione broke the silence.
"Maybe you are fun to be with after all", she said.
"Maybe I am" said Draco, "Now we're even"
"Even for what?"
"The other night"
"Oh", said Hermione, disappointed, her pendant losing its bright red glow.
Draco's pendant didn't glow either. They found themselves just between love and hate. Draco noticed that Hermione kept quiet for the rest of the feast. Maybe he didn't give Hermione a ride on his broom to get even; maybe it was because..."No", he told himself firmly, "I don't love her" and with that, his pendant started to glow. But he regretted that he ever told Hermione that they were 'even'.
Hermione's mind was filled with so many different thoughts and emotions that it was hard for Draco to read her mind. "Hey, what you thinking?" he thought. "none of your damn business", she thought back angrily.
Hermione was really thinking about Draco, not about how happy she was went they rode out, but how disappointed he made her. "So this was all so he could get even?" she asked herself, "of course, Malfoys don't want to be in debt" and she was silently kicking herself for even getting on that broom with Draco.
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The next morning, a letter was on the desk of their common room.
Hogsmeade 1:00, today.
Professor Dumbledore
P.S. I apologize for such short notice.
Hermione put back the letter in its envelope and she smiled.
"At last," she said under her breath, "a well-deserved break"
Draco breathed a sigh of relief; "something to keep my mind off things"
Hermione and Draco got ready, neither of them saying a word, and Draco opened the door for Hermione and they got out to the station. Draco thought he saw Hermione smiling, yet he wasn't sure.
Both their pockets filled with gold, they boarded the train to Hogsmeade. They sat quietly in a small compartment, and they got off the train a few minutes later. Hogsmeade, being the only all-wizarding village around, was packed with people, or at least they looked like people.
"Honeydukes?" Hermione suggested bluntly.
"Er—yeah, sure" Draco said uneasily.
They went inside the candy store and they bought handfuls of this, a bag of that, a little bit of everything, and their pockets were filled with sweets by the time they got out. As they left the store, they found themselves face to face with Harry and Ron.
They just stared for a while, then Harry sort of looked around and he pulled Ron to follow him. "Wait", Hermione said. Harry looked at her impatiently, waiting for an explanation.
Hermione didn't speak; instead she pulled out her pendant from under her jacket.
"What's that?" Ron asked, "Some kind of love charm your boyfriend gave you?"
"No", Hermione said.
Harry raised his eyebrows, still waiting for Hermione to explain.
"Draco, pull out yours"
"So you're on a first name basis, then?" said Harry.
Draco pulled out his pendant from his sweatshirt. "Listen", Hermione said, "I'm telling you the truth, but you have to promise not to tell"
"Hermione", Harry said, "when have we ever sold you out?"
"Okay," Hermione breathed.
"Draco and I had a sort of duel after you left Transfiguration on the second day of school, since he couldn't do the switching spell and all..."
"...and McGonagall called us to Professor Dumbledore's office. He told us that we were the top contenders for head boy and head girl, and that we needed to learn to live with each other, so he gave us these pendants"
She pulled it as far as it could go so Harry and Ron could take a good look at it. She explained the rest of the story to them too.
At the end of her explanation, Harry and Ron were feeling quite stupid. "Sorry", Harry said quietly. "Yeah," Ron added, "we thought that you were together or something"
Hermione blushed at this. "Of course not" she said quickly.
Draco rolled his eyes at what the golden trio was talking about. They were chattering, catching up on everything. Yet deep inside, there was this side of him that felt jealous of them.
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Harry and Ron had to leave; they were meeting up with Dean and Seamus at the Three Broomsticks. Hermione said goodbye and smiled.
"At least everything's fixed up now", she thought, and she turned to look at Draco.
At that moment, he seized her hand and pulled her towards an alley. "What?" she asked. Draco didn't speak, he just kept quiet. Hermione peered out to the main road. Guess who she saw? Slytherins, mostly sixth years. Pansy Parkinson was blabbering away with Millicent and Blaise was holding hands with some other stuck up Slytherin girl.
"Oh", she said.
Draco didn't want to be seen. Proof again; reputations...reputations. She was getting sick of it.
Just then, she had an idea. Without saying a word, she pulled Malfoy out from the alley, and led him towards the Shrieking Shack. Draco stared as she beckoned him to jump over the gate.
"Are you crazy?" he asked in disbelief.
"You'd rather be seen with me then?" she tilted her head to the side, and did something he'd never imagined she would. She batted her eyelashes and did the puppy dog face. He thought she looked quite cute. It was hard to resist...but still, he didn't want to be caught doing something illegal, not with his father's reputation and all...reputation...that's what got him here in the first place. "Screw reputation" he said, and he put his hand onto the gate and jumped over it. She was pulled over as the half-meter limit was gone over a little, and she climbed over the gate.
"Come on"
She pulled him toward the heavy door, and he helped her open it. It creaked a little and they both got in. They walked towards the old staircase and Draco whipped out his wand.
"Lumos Semi Maxima", he said, and a light glowed inside. It couldn't be seen from outside since the windows were dusty and all, and so they sat down at the bottom step. Hermione took out a bag of Every Flavored Beans and she held it out for them to share.
They ate the whole time, and they were just smiling. Draco turned to face Hermione.
"Thanks" he said hesitantly, "You have no idea how much this means"
"Yeah I do"
"No you don't"
"Well maybe I don't" Hermione smiled knowingly, and she took another chocolate frog. The frog was about to hop away when Draco caught it and handed it to Hermione, who blushed a deep red.
Draco checked his watch. It was a golden watch, nothing unusual, nothing magical. Hermione was surprised. "You own a Muggle watch?" she said.
"Quite useful"
"Yeah"
"But I thought you—"Just then, they heard a voices from the outside.
Hermione walked over to the window and dusted it off. She peered outside and saw the same group of Slytherins heading over to the shack. Pansy was giggling as Blaise grinned. Hermione guessed that they were on a dare, and she turned to Draco.
"C'mon we have to leave", she said in an alarming tone, "the Slytherins are coming in"
"But there's no other entrance"
"Not that you know of", she grinned, her eyes bright.
Draco muttered 'nox' to his wand, and Hermione lead him towards the secret entrance under the whomping willow. Hermione carefully pulled the string, and she looked up to see the tree motionless. Draco was speechless as they climbed out to face the castle.
"Thanks" he mumbled.
"I don't want you to get even this time" she said
"It's a deal"
They walked off to the castle, and Hermione's pendant glowed, looking even brighter under the moonlight.