PART FIFTEEN
Absence…
Hermione immediately busied herself with the whole lot of homework Hogwarts gave them for the holidays the moment she got home. She didn't want her mind to wander to the unpredicted events that had happened to her for the past months at school—being assigned as a tutor, getting detention, falling in love…and with the most unexpected candidate. She didn't want to think about her Draco, about him having to face his father again when he got home, about him professing his love to her but seeming like saying goodbye as well, about him making love to her twice in two of the best nights she'd had in her life…all of which, of course, weren't supposed to come to her parents' knowledge, especially the last part. She knew they would kill her if they knew she'd given herself away at her age. And to Draco Malfoy, of all people. That was why she was always trying to keep busy, so that her parents wouldn't suspect a thing.
But every night, when everything was still and she was alone in her room, she would open the locket that Draco gave her and reminisce on everything they've been through together, missing him badly every time his face would flash, longing for his touch whenever she watched his thoughts when they were making love, and extremely flattered to see that every day there were newly added clips to the locket, meaning he was always thinking of her. And she knew that she would die if ever he really did say goodbye.
On Christmas morning, she woke up early to the smell of her mother's waffles wafting from the kitchen downstairs. She grinned, glad that at least some things never changed—because it was her mom's tradition to cook her famous Christmas waffles every year. She had already opened her presents last night, so she quickly got up and brushed her hair. This had become her daily habit because of Malfoy, and it was becoming quite enjoyable. She hurriedly dashed downstairs.
"Good morning," she greeted, seating herself on the breakfast table as her mother instinctively carried a plate of her waffles to her. "Where's Dad?"
"He's out at the clinic today, dear," Mrs. Granger replied. "A patient of his called earlier this morning and complained about his tooth job." She sighed. "I know it's Christmas and everything, but your father values his patients too much and he just won't listen."
Hermione giggled and took a bite of her breakfast. All of a sudden, a thought occurred to her. "Hey Mum…? Can I go to Diagon Alley today?"
"Diagon Alley?" Her mom asked, sitting down across from her. "You don't need new books for the new term, do you?"
"Not really, but I just want to wander around for a while. Besides, it's been a while since I got some sundaes from Florean Fortescue," she grinned.
"Well…okay, dear. Just be careful," Mrs. Granger said knowingly. "And say hello to your friends for me."
Hermione smiled and got up, surprised that her mom could see right through her.
A few hours later, after she'd taken a bath and gotten dressed, she sat down outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, a bit exhausted from her trip to Diagon Alley. She looked around at the witches and wizards milling about, talking and laughing and enjoying the smell of Christmas in the air. She tightened her scarf around her neck and took another spoonful of her sundae. She knew she wasn't supposed to be eating ice cream in this snow, but she had nothing better to do anyway. She'd sent owls to both Harry and Ron the moment she got to Eeylops Owl Emporium—she'd rented two owls for it—but she doubted whether they would receive them this fast or not. So it looked like she was going to be alone here for a while.
Hermione sighed and shoved her spoon into her mouth again, but was interrupted by a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around.
"Hermione?" Cho looked skeptically at her, and then smiled. "Hey, I didn't expect you to be here—at least not at Christmas."
"Hey," Hermione greeted back, almost half-heartedly. She didn't know why she always felt a teeny bit of annoyance whenever Cho was around, and the fact that Ron said she was kissing Harry in the train made her even less fond of her. But seeing how Cho was smiling innocently at her, she couldn't resist at least trying to be nice back. "What brings you here?"
"I was just walking around. I had to escape the family get-together—they were actually making me sing Oh Come All Ye Faithful in front of everyone. I do get tired of the reunion at times," she chuckled, and Hermione was somehow pleased to hear that Cho wasn't here with Harry.
Hermione motioned to the seat across from her. "D'you want to join me for a while, then?" she asked forcibly.
"Thank you," Cho smiled again and took a seat. Hermione didn't say anything then; she couldn't think of anything to say, and she didn't want to. She'd tried to be nice, and now she'd done her part. It was Cho's turn.
Cho looked down uncomfortably at the silence, and then she cleared her throat after a few minutes of Hermione eating her sundae without saying anything. "Er, Hermione?"
Hermione looked up. "Yeah?"
"Listen, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," Cho said, fidgeting with the hem of her scarf. "Are you really…okay with…you know…Harry and me…being together…?"
Hermione choked on her ice cream and she immediately put her spoon down. "W-why do you ask that?"
"It's just that…I've been noticing that whenever Harry and I are together, you're not really being…all that friendly," Cho said, smiling sheepishly. "I know I'm a year older than him and I can understand if you don't like me and all—"
"No, no; that's not it," Hermione blurted out. "It's great that you and Harry are finally getting together; he's been pining over you for a ruddy long time, you know. I just…" she trailed off, and Cho looked down. Hermione sighed. "I guess I just feel a little…awkward, having to share Harry's time with someone else now. He has always hung out with Ron and me for the past six years, and…maybe I'm just not used to him not being around too much anymore. He was always there whenever we needed him, and now that he's not, I guess I…freaked out a bit. It has nothing to do with you, really, and I'm sorry."
Cho smiled at her. "It's okay; I totally understand. I'm sorry, too…" Cho trailed off, and Hermione couldn't help but wince at the note of sadness in Cho's tone. Hermione knew that Harry still did spend most of his time with herself and Ron, just not all of his time. She also knew that Cho rarely had the chance to be alone with him, and yet here Cho was, apologizing for that little time she was taking Harry to herself. Hermione felt like a complete selfish brat.
Cho cleared her throat and grinned. "I'm sorry again, Hermione. I will tell Harry not to hog me too much," she joked good-humoredly and stood up. "Anyways, I think I better go. My parents are probably holding a search party for me by now. Thank you for the seat, Hermione," she chuckled. "See you at school."
Hermione smiled and waved as Cho walked away, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Now she felt even worse than before, knowing how awful she'd acted around Cho. She truly was a possessive jerk.
She shook her head. She had managed to get her mind off her Draco, but now Cho was in the picture and Hermione couldn't feel more terrible. She sighed, hoping that Harry and Ron really would come and meet her. Right now, she really needed her two best friends.
What a way to spend her Christmas Day.
Yes, I know; this chapter is too short. I just kind of wanted to center on Hermione's feelings after it all right now, and to settle the tension between her and Cho. Also, I wanted to portray Hermione's peaceful yet solitary Muggle Christmas and emphasize how much Hermione was affected by falling in love with Malfoy and having him say the same thing to her. You know, being blooming and happy and the things one feels when one is truly in love but the person loved is far away. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder but…we'll see :D
And since this chappie is a bit short, I'd like to take this opportunity to reply to the reviewers (yey! I finally had the time to do this!).
bam: Heya! You were the first one to submit a review and I just want to thank you for giving me that courage I needed when I first started this fic. Hope you like it so far!
Miaka: Thanks! It was nice to know that I made a 'wonderful start'! :D
Jodie: Wow, you are really a great encourager! When I posted the first chapters I didn't think I'd get praises and stuff…but right from the very start you were really very supportive:D Thanks for all the compliments! They really got me going. And yeah, I kind of know what you mean about Malfoy being a bad-ass student and all, and I didn't want him to be all sappy, too. I wanted him to be cold and still obnoxious, and yet somehow still capable of falling in love and allowing Hermione to melt his heart ^.^ Thanks for everything!
Blance Dubois: Hehehe, yes there is sexual tension between them, what with being seventeen and all. Not to mention all the raging hormones (wink wink). Anyways, I'm, trying to go beyond the rating a bit for your reading pleasure :D Hope I didn't disappoint you!
Darkwind & heather: I try my best :D Thanks!
Luisa: Whew! I'm glad to hear that. It's pretty tough not to be cliché and all, considering how many Draco+Hermione fics are out there. At first I thought that the tutoring thing was way too common, but thank you for convincing me that it wasn't. Peace!
kissmekate: Thank you! I'm sorry if the narrations got a little confusing; it was sort of my fault too that I made too much "mystery hints" hehe! Hope it's clearer now that the narrator's revealed!
Bride of Malfoy: Sorry about the errors, I hope my email helped you :D
love-orthelack-thereof, kitkat, Artemis*godess, Deviant Deviltry, OneOFaKind92, Jazzylady, clatter, and Blanche Dubois: Waaah okay, so maybe I really was holding back too much :D I'm sorry guys! I was too cautious. Thank you for all the encouragement, confidence, and all the suggestions! I'll keep trying to juice it up for you guys:D As for adultfanfiction.net, I have plans for that…(mischievous grin)
eth, sri, RuByMoOn17, Pippin, xStupid.Girlxo, kkjade,Dracosgurl_03, inclined, WhisperStarlight, Princesa serenity mononok1, Monica, and porcelain-starfish: Hey, thanks so much!!! You have no idea how helpful your compliments are. I'm sorry if it took so long for me to update:D
Deviant Deviltry: Thanks again for understanding; the parchment was revealed when they were in Hogsmeade, but it wasn't explained yet:D I'll get to that when the time comes:D And as for Draco and Hermione going public…it's going to come sometime soon…hope you'll stick around 'til then!
NotSoBlondie: I'm so sorry!!! Fanfiction.net does that sometimes…I don't really know why:D I'm really sorry I wasn't able to post what happened in chap12 in the next chap! I hope the errors are gone now and you can view the pages normally again:D thanks for the compliments!!! Shucks ^.^
PolishPrincess: Waaaah I'm so sorry it took so long…too many obstacles in my way huhuhu…I hope you like the next chaps though:D Sorry for the long wait!
Aidan666: Wow, you've really reviewed a lot! I totally appreciate it:D That was kind of a bittersweet scene, I guess. And with Harry and Hermione being paired up all the time, who wouldn't think that they're really an item? I also wanted to portray in that scene how Malfoy would go beyond his hatred for Harry just to ensure Hermione's safety and happiness:D Awww, I love Draco! XD
Jazzylady: I'm so sorry! I haven't read the fifth book, but I know who got killed off though…it stinks really, I like that character a lot, too L I guess J.K. Rowling has bigger plans for everything:D
Jodie: Omigawd, you're so great! Thank you sooo much from the bottom of my heart for all the support and encouragement and tips and stuff:D They really helped me a lot, not to mention I was greatly inspired by your comments:D Thanks for the praises, and I promise that I'll do my best not to let you down! I try to keep them all in character as best as I can, and hopefully they'll stay that way until the fic ends:D Once again, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting! I'm very much flattered by your addiction to my fic:D More power to you, too, fellow writer! And may the evils of writers' block never grace our doorsteps again :D (more power to Draco, too, and his incredible sexiness ^.^)
firefly50, l10l15l18l4l1l13, SaDiStIc-FrEaK1, and Ninde Ancalime: Sniff, poor Draco…sorry if I had to write that scene; I wanted to prove how he really loves Hermione and will always love her no matter what…thanks for everything!!! :D
To all my beloved readers: THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! Muchas Gracias! Maraming salamat! Love you all very much! Please continue reviewing and I hope you guys will like my future chaps!:D