PART SIXTEEN

The Damage is Done

Term started so quickly and we had to go back to Hogwarts for the New Year. I felt bad for not having met Hermione at Diagon Alley on Christmas, but I had other things to attend to—Sirius was telling me everything about my parents during their childhood days at Hogwarts. I only hoped that Ron showed up so Hermione wouldn't be all alone. I had asked Sirius' help about my dilemma, yet I didn't really tell him what it was that I was meaning to tell my friends. He told me that I would know if the time was right to confess…but I didn't. And it was the first time in my entire life that I actually dreaded going back to school.

***

"I do wonder what McGonagall's got you in for this time," Ron pondered out loud. "It's the second time she's called for you for no particular reason at all."

"I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for this, Ron," Hermione rounded the corner and clutched her books tighter to her chest. "I only hope that it's not bad news."

"Well, if you ask me, being held back brings nothing but bad news. So you better run while you still can," Ron fell in step beside her, and they both made their way to McGonagall's office on the morning of the first day of the new term.

Hermione stopped outside the office door, cocking her eyebrow at Ron. "I didn't do anything wrong, you know. It can't be bad news; she probably has some new duty for me to do." She took a deep breath, trying to convince herself. To be honest, she did feel a bit nervous. It was only the first day. She had been so excited to come back to school so that she could see Malfoy again, not to mention she wanted to know why, after the New Year, there were no more new additions of his thoughts on her locket. It worried her that Malfoy was no longer thinking about her after the New Year, or perhaps, her locket was just simply…broken. But the point was, she had been looking forward to coming back to Hogwarts, but being called to McGonagall's office was definitely not something she was expecting.

Ron leaned against the wall beside the office door, crossing his arms. "You really should take my advice, you know. Running is always a good solution."

"Come off it, Ron," Hermione rolled her eyes. "There would be no place to go. Besides, this can't possibly be anything bad. Trust me; I'll still be smiling even after I get out of there."

Ron shrugged. "Say what you want. I'll just hang back here and wait for you."

Hermione nodded and, taking a deep breath, pushed open the door.

Professor McGonagall was sitting busily behind her fully-occupied desk, looking extremely flustered as she scanned the pages of opened books and rummaged through the pieces of parchment scattered all over her table. She was shaking her head every now and then, her brows furrowing and her lips curling into frustrated frowns. Hermione had never seen her so drained in her life.

"Er…excuse me…Professor…?" Hermione said, stepping towards the desk. "You called for me…?"

McGonagall's head snapped up and she sighed the moment she saw Hermione. She gently removed her glasses and leaned back exhaustedly into her seat. "Yes, Ms. Granger, there has just been a little change of plans."

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"I trust you know that Mr. Malfoy has scored marvelously in his previous practice test before the holiday break," McGonagall said, and Hermione frowned. Malfoy had another test? She was supposed to tutor him especially in times like those! How come she wasn't informed of it? Why didn't Malfoy tell her? And how could he have scored perfectly if he hadn't asked her help at all…?

McGonagall cleared her throat. "Mr. Malfoy had requested that he take the quiz on his own to test his skills, and he did manage to score top marks without your help, I daresay. And so," she folded her hands neatly together. "His father, Lucius, told me just recently that he no longer wants his son under your tutorials…and that his son was now capable of studying History of Magic on his own. Thank you, Ms. Granger. You have performed wonderfully, and the school is now canceling the yearlong tutorial you were assigned. We still will, of course, have your History of Magic grades covered as a token of gratitude, but you may go back to your regular classes and replace the Dummy if you wish."

Hermione stared at her teacher in shock. Did she just hear all that right? Her sessions with Malfoy were over? Malfoy had taken a test on his own? But the tutorials were special to her! It was the only time she could be close to Malfoy without arousing any suspicions! How could they take that away from her? And how could Malfoy not tell? Was he meaning for this to happen so he took the test on his own?

"W-what about…the study…?" she stammered, struggling to keep her composure.

"You can keep the study, dear. You may still go there whenever you need some time to review if you like. It will, however, still remain a secret between you and Mr. Malfoy, and I don't want you inviting others into that room, not even Potter and Weasley," replied McGonagall strictly. "Is that understood?"

Hermione swallowed heavily. She still couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Y-yes, professor," she mumbled. So…just like that…the sessions were over? How would she be able to spend any time with Malfoy alone now that her only excuse was gone? Would she be able to arrange it so that she and Malfoy could still meet in the study every night?

"Now, if you no longer have any questions, I would advise you to please leave for your next class now. As you can see, I still have plenty of paperwork to be done; owl post has been insane lately…" McGonagall put on her glasses again and returned to her work. Hermione then slowly backed out of the office, still in shock and awfully depressed. Ron immediately greeted her the moment she got outside the room.

"So how'd it go? I don't see you smiling, you know," Ron joked, and Hermione forced a smile at him. "I'm perfectly fine, Ron. McGonagall just lifted off a…duty of mine…I…don't need to go off every night after dinner anymore."

"Wicked!" Ron exclaimed, and the two of them made their way towards second period. "Now you can spend more time helping me out with my homework again!"

Hermione poked him in the ribs playfully, somehow managing to really smile a bit. "In your dreams, Ron," she replied, and he started ticking off with his fingers the reasons why she should help him. Hermione shook her head, slightly amused. She still couldn't get her mind off what McGonagall had just told her, and she still was pretty dejected, but blimey, she was glad Ron was with her right now.

She really needed his antics at the moment.

***

Harry placed his hand on his forehead and shut his eyes tight, gritting his teeth. His temples felt like bursting, and everything was becoming blurred in his mind's eye. He aimlessly stumbled towards the wall of the deserted corridor, leaning against it helplessly. He bit his lip as another blast of pain seared through inside his head, and for a moment he thought he was going to collapse again. And he couldn't afford that, not when everyone else was already in the Great Hall for lunch and he was completely alone in the corridors, having just emerged from the hospital wing. He didn't know what was happening to him; he had no idea why his head was suddenly aching all of a sudden—and for the first time, it wasn't his scar. His head was just plainly in pain, and he would never forget the way he'd fainted right in front of Cho while he was talking to her a few hours ago. He didn't want to relive the shame of having had Cho take him to the hospital wing with her "mobilicorpus", as Madam Pomfrey had narrated to him the moment he woke up in the hospital wing. He didn't know why he'd suddenly fainted—and neither did Madam Pomfrey—but he somehow convinced her that he was alright now and that he had already regained enough strength to make it to the Great Hall alone.

But right now it looked like he wouldn't be able to do that after all.

Harry sighed as the pain subsided a bit, and he put his hand down. Right after first period, he'd gone and went to talk to Cho while Ron accompanied Hermione to McGonagall. But then he'd fainted, and he'd missed History of Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He most definitely didn't want to miss lunch now.

With all his remaining effort, Harry pushed himself away from the wall and continued walking down the corridor to the Great Hall. He forcibly made his way to the Gryffindors' table the moment he got there, and he could feel everyone's eyes on him as his solitary figure entered the Hall. Hermione and Ron immediately got up to help him make his way the moment they spotted him, and he couldn't be more thankful, because he felt he couldn't hold up much longer.

"Harry! What on earth happened?" Hermione asked worriedly as she and Ron seated him between them.

"You missed two bloody subjects!" Ron exclaimed, and everyone else at the Gryffindor table turned to Harry. "I reckon you've been sleeping in the dormitories!"

"You look really sick, Harry. What happened after you went and talked to Cho?" asked Hermione, handing him a plate of chicken legs.

"Nothing," Harry lied instantly. "Snape called for me and asked me to…er…clean out the dungeons; that's why I feel like I'm gonna be sick."

"Clean out the dungeons?" Hermione gasped. "But you didn't do anything wrong!"

"'Course he didn't! That ugly git's just trying to make Harry's life miserable," Ron said and took the plate Hermione was holding when Harry didn't take it. "Why didn't Dumbledore fire him when he had the chance?"

"Forget it, you two," Harry sighed, slowly starting to feel a little better now. "Let's just eat, okay? I'm starved after all that…cleaning."

Hermione nodded. "Okay then, just try not to think about Snape." She snatched the plate away from a complaining Ron and handed it back to Harry. "I hope you guys don't mind, but I really should go; I still have to meet up with Neville for the new term's plans. Eat a lot; okay Harry? I'll catch up with you both in Herbology." She stood up and Ron waved absently, scouting the table for more chicken legs. She gathered her things and started leaving the table, but just as she was about to exit the Hall, she turned and walked right into someone, causing her books to scatter all over the floor. She looked up angrily at the person who bumped into her, but then she went rigid and all she could think of was two words.

Draco Malfoy.

Hermione swallowed heavily as Malfoy froze in his spot, and they both stared at each other wordlessly for a while. All the noise in the Great Hall died down and everyone watched the two of them intently, the 'Three Broomsticks incident' flashing quickly back into each student's mind. Hermione could almost hear the girls whispering to each other again, bringing up the 'Why Malfoy Openly Defended Mudblood Granger at the Three Broomsticks Scandal'.

Hermione's heart immediately started beating thrice as fast, as she stood there staring into Draco's deep eyes that were staring right back into hers. It was the first time they'd had any contact since they both got back to school, even though Gryffindor and Slytherin had History and Defense together. She couldn't think of anything else—not even the possibility that Malfoy hadn't thought of her since the New Year—but that day in her room when Malfoy told her he loved her. And at that thought, Hermione started to smile.

But it was also at that point when Malfoy frowned, and Hermione could perfectly see the flicker of irritation and—painfully—the hatred in his eyes.

"Watch where you're going, you grimy Mudblood," Malfoy snapped, dusting off his robes and pretending to clear off any dirt she might have placed on them. "I don't mind Dumbledore having to keep you around this school, but at least serve some use even if you don't belong here. Dirty blood counts even less than elf blood, so why don't you hurry along down the kitchens where you belong? It's lunch time and everyone's hungry, so you better not slack off, servant, or you really will have no reason to stay." He took a step forward and purposely stomped on her books on the floor, making her open her mouth in utter shock and hurt. He pointed at her now grubby books. "Ooops, there's a spot. Clean it up, will you?" And he stalked out of the Great Hall, to the laughter of every student in the Slytherin table.

Hermione looked at them in horror, seeing their sneering faces whirling all around her, and then centering on Pansy's wicked grin and sinister laugh, and all of a sudden Hermione couldn't take it anymore. She hurriedly and clumsily grabbed her books from the floor as the sickening sound of laughter reverberated even louder, ringing mercilessly in her ears. She clutched her books to her chest and broke into a run, ignoring Harry and Ron's worried voices, her tears bursting all over her face. She felt like her heart was being crushed, and it was squeezing the life out of her. The pain of everything Malfoy had just said…how he'd treated her…and the look that told her it wasn't all just some joke to cover up their relationship…was killing her right there and then. She sped into the nearest empty classroom and locked it shut, throwing her books down again and allowing herself to slide down the floor in agony, as she wept inevitably at the pain that was crushing her heart.

Little did she know, that a few floors away in a particular room in the Slytherin dormitories, someone was sulking in a dark corner of his room, his head down, his fists clenched and his eyes shut, silent tears trickling down his cheeks in sheer helplessness and regret of having hurt the one he loved.

Because a while back in the Great Hall, he'd just done the hardest thing anyone ever could.

Waaaah…I know Malfoy's a total jerk here, but I promise, there's a reason and purpose behind this:D Anyways, I guess this is all I can do for now…four chapters in a day…whew…once again I would like to apologize for my long absence, and I hope this will be enough for now!:D I'll be off to update soon! Thanks so much for all your reviews and please continue to do so!!! Luv ya all ! Mwah!:D