Sorry this chapter took so long to be updated. I e-mailed this chapter to my beta-reader about 2 or 3 weeks ago (can't remember), and that person never sent it back, so I'm kind of worried about her. Anyway, thank you for cooperating with me for the past who knows how long, with this story. I love you all so much.
I would like to thank the following people for reviewing: Watcher Tale Neith, Whispyraven, you don't suck, pottermalfoyfan, SailorSaturnCosmo, and Reese Craven, Kairi099, kat, and kond124.
And now, The First Cut is the Deepest
Chapter 10
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Harry walked out of the Boys' Bathroom, his face even more red then Ron's usually gets when he gets embarrassed. Left over tear streaks remained on his cheeks as he closed the door and slowly trudged up to his dormitory. He opened it to find Hermione, sitting on his bed, shoulders heaving as she cried.
"Mione?" he asked, his voice horse from crying.
"Oh, Harry!" Hermione cried, hurriedly rushed over to Harry, rapping her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder.
"I'm so sorry!" came her muffled sobs. "I didn't mean to you to get hurt. It was a mistake. I tried to tell you, but..."
"I know, Hermione," Harry thought. "I should have listened to you, but I didn't. It's my fault."
Tears started to pour down Harry cheeks again, as he thought of how stupid he was to have not have listened to Hermione, and to have even trusted Draco Malfoy in the first place. The scum. No, he was more then scum. He's...
"What happened?" Hermione asked, looking up.
There was silence, before Harry answered, looking towards the wall.
"I was humiliated in front of the whole school. Everyone knows that I'm gay."
The memories of this horrible incident replayed over and over again in his mind.
"I can't believe he would do that?" Hermione said, discussed.
Harry walked over to his bed, flopping down on it and placing his hands be hind his head, as he layed back.
"Well, I guess the Draco Malfoy that we knew before, never really changed at all."
"Harry..."
"Don't apologize, Mione. It's not your fault. Never was."
They stood there in silence for a few awkward minutes, before Hermione spoke up again.
"Harry? Do you mind me asking..."
"Ask anything you want," Harry said, not looking at her.
Hermione nodded before finishing her question.
"What are you going to do about it?"
There was silence for a few more moments.
"I don't know," he finally replied.
"Do you want to talk about anything?"
Once again, Harry didn't answer. He just stared down at the coverlet on his bed.
"Alright, then," Hermione responded. "If you ever do want to talk..."
"Is it my fault?" Harry asked, looking up, his eyes glassy.
"Is what your fault?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Everything. Malfoy, Sirius, Voldemort. Just...everything."
Hermione looked stunned.
"It's not your fault, Harry."
"But, I always jump into things. Maybe everything was my fault. I know we wouldn't be in these stupid positions right now if it wasn't for me. I mean, if we hadn't gone after the prophecy, Sirius wouldn't have come looking for me, and he would still be alive." Now, the tears started to pour from Harry's eyes. "And, if I wasn't stupid enough to have gone along with that Triwizard Tournament, maybe Cedric would still be alive, and Voldemort wouldn't be as powerful."
"Harry, you cannot blame these things on yourself!" Hermione said, sitting down next to him.
"Why not!?" Harry asked.
"Because it's not your fault!"
"You don't know that!"
"Harry, believe me. It's not your fault."
"And you Justin," Harry continued. "There is more tension between you two then there was when you first got together, all because I called him a Mudblood!"
There was silence.
"I still don't know why you called him that, Harry."
"I was angry, okay? I'm sorry! I'm sorry for every bloody thing I've done!"
"Harry, if you don't stop bad-mouthing yourself, I will..."
"You will, what, Hermione?"
Hermione just glared at him before walking out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
"Bugger," Harry whispered as he smacked his body back onto the bed.
Hermione walked down the stairs, until she reached the Great Hall, where she thrust open the doors, marching over to the Slytherin table, where she saw Malfoy, sitting and talking with a bunch of other Slytherins.
She walked over to him, putting her hands on her hips.
"Malfoy!"
Draco slowly spun around, not surprised to see Hermione standing behind him.
"What do you want, Mudblood?" Draco asked, coldly.
A bunch of the Slytherins cheered when the word 'Mudblood' was said.
"We need to talk!"
"Yeah! Right!" Draco said, sarcastically, turning around to laugh with the other Slytherins.
"Now!" Hermione said, grabbing hold of his ear and pulling him off of the bench, dragging him off to the corner of the Great Hall.
When they reached the corner, she released his ear, glaring at him.
"What the hell, Granger!" Draco said, rubbing his sore ear.
"Why did you do that to Harry!?" she snapped, placing her hands on her lips.
"What are you talking about?"
"Why did you embarrass Harry in front of the whole school!?" Hermione asked, tears forming in the rim of her eyes.
"Still not getting you," Draco said, starring at her like she was crazy.
"You know what I mean!" Hermione said, glaring daggers at them as tears started to pour from her eyes. "How you told the whole school that he was gay!"
Now he was really baffled. What was she talking about?
"I really, really have no clue what your talking about, Granger. Who would do that to Harry?"
Now was Hermione's turn to look at him like he was crazy.
"What are you talking about? I have the flyers to prove it!"
Hermione reached into her pocket and pulled out the folded flyer, angrily thrusting it into his hand. Draco took the flyer and unfolded it, reading the contents. And there it was; his name was on the flyer. 'Draco Malfoy reveals the truth about Harry Potter's sexuality.' 'Now how insane is this?!' Draco thought as he scanned the paper up and down. 'I wouldn't do this to Harry!'
"I didn't do this," Draco said innocently, giving the paper back to Hermione. "I wouldn't do that to Harry," he said, keeping his voice low so as not to be heard.
"But they said that you were down there. I talked to Justin Finch- fletchley. He insisted that you were there, telling everyone that he was gay, because he showed up, and that you had promised everyone that if he did show up at a certain time, that he was gay, or something like that," Hermione said, folding up the flyer and putting it back into his pocket.
"I swear I didn't do that, Granger. I care for Harry. You've got to understand..."
"I don't want to hear your stupid excuses, Malfoy! Your going to pay for what you did to Harry, I swear!"
She turned to walk away, but as she was about to leave the Great Hall, she turned around to face a stunned Draco Malfoy.
"Stay away from him. I don't want him hurt," she growled, before leaving the Great Hall completely.
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