Chapter 9: Ballerinas In Boxes

You tried to fill some emptiness

'Til all you had spilled over

Now everything's so far away

That you don't know where you are

Hold On, Jet

Hermione counted the seconds before she was hit again. She finally heard a dull thud, but she felt no pain. Her eyelids fluttered open, revealing Draco standing over Ron's motionless form. Draco was breathing heavily, holding his fist with his other hand, eyes livid. He shifted his gaze over to her as she softly questioned, "Draco?"

He regained his composure, shaking his head and saying, "I heard you, screaming, from out in the hall." His voice shook a bit as he ran his hands through his slick, blonde hair. Hermione's face turned a light shade of pink, embarrassed that he had to help her and see her like this. She hated to play the victim.

They both looked at Ron, silently agreeing to drag him up to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione had forgotten, due to her complete shock at Ron's drunken state, that she was a witch and had full use of her wand. She muttered, "Mobilicorpus," and Ron's body rose gently into the air, as if help up by strings. As they strode out of the bathroom, Hermione caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror over one of the sinks. Tear-stained cheeks and unruly hair distorted her look. I'm a mess, she thought. I can't believe Draco's seeing me like this.

She cast a look at Draco only to find him staring back. She saw emotion in his eyes as she held his gaze- she couldn't quite tell what it was. Longing? Hurt? Rage? She wanted to know, wanted to help him.

"Draco, I-well, thank you for, you know, saving me."

He was surprised she had wanted to talk, and so took a moment before answering, "I kind of had to."

Hermione didn't push it. She knew what he was trying to say-it was just his masculinity and testosterone getting in the way. "Well," she said with a knowing smile, "thanks, anyway."

Before they knew it, they were at the entrance of the Gryffindor common room. Draco held the portrait open as Hermione brought Ron in. She slowly and gently lay his limp form on one of the couches, taking one last pitiful look at him before turning on her heel and walking back through the portrait. She was surprised to find Draco still outside.

"I thought you would have left by now," she speculated.

"Well, we wouldn't want you to get beat up by any other drunk, wannabe loverboys, now, would we?" he said, only to find that it sounded more protective than the snide tone Draco had intended.

Hermione just smiled as they walked a while longer in silence, not at a particularly hurrying pace. She was surprised that after her startling experience, she managed to be so at ease, with Draco nonetheless. Or was it Draco that put her so at ease?

"So," Hermione finally broke the silence, "it's been some Christmas, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was sure a hell of a lot more exciting than any Christmas at Malfoy Manor."

Almost halfway to their common room, silence filled the air again. Hermione found herself rethinking every attempt at more conversation that she intended to make. Why is this so hard? It seems like there is so much he already has told me and even more that he hasn't. What happened to the obnoxious prat we all used to hate? Hermione mused to herself.

They had finally reached their common room, weary from an exceptionally interesting day. Both were surprised to see that it was still decorated with untouched Christmas decorations, great big evergreen tree in the corner and all. They both stood in silence, taking in their surroundings and marveling at the fact that it was the most un-Christmas-like Christmas either of them had ever had.

"Granger," Draco said as he thought of something he had been meaning to say to her.

Hermione turned her attentions towards him. "What is it, Draco?"

"I, er, thanks."

Hermione shot him a confused look. "Thanks? What are you thanking me f-" She paused mid-sentence, realizing he was talking about her present to him. "Oh. You're welcome."

"So, anyway, I, er, wanted to give you this," he said, thrusting a package towards her. She looked up at him, almost not daring to take it. He looked back at her expectantly, and so she accepted the package and proceeded to orderly unfold the wrapping paper surrounding the gift.

"I wonder what it is," she mused out loud as she painstakingly removed the paper. She finally tore back the last remaining piece to reveal a silver box with two small drawers. Hermione gasped, marveling at its simplistic beauty. She opened the two drawers to find them lined with plush, deep green velveteen and opened the lid to a more spectacular sight. Inside, a miniature, silver-costumed ballerina gracefully danced on a small stage. "Oh, Draco, its so beautiful," Hermione said in what was barely a whisper. She looked up at him and she could've sworn that, for a moment, she saw a glimpse of satisfaction.

He broke her gaze saying, "Yeah, well, again, I kinda had to-" Draco was cut short by Hermione. Well, really by Hermione's lips. Without noticing it, he enjoyed it for a long moment before breaking the kiss to ask, "And that was for…?"

She pointed up towards the ceiling. "Happy Christmas, Draco," she said before bounding up the stairs to her own room.

"Happy Christmas…Hermione," he called softly to her back. Draco looked up to find something floating above his head. Mistletoe. Figures. Only, he could've sworn it wasn't there before…

'o'

Hermione slept soundly that night, with more than interesting dreams. She stretched out, eyes roving over the litter of wrapping paper and boxes she hadn't bothered to clean up from last night. And she sure as hell didn't feel like cleaning it up now. Her eyes caught the gleam of the silver box she had gotten last night. She smiled, remembering their exchange.

She hopped out of bed, shuffling towards the bathroom and reaching for her toothbrush. Squeezing some minty freshness onto her brush, Hermione thought about the events of the previous day. She didn't know whether or not to talk to Ron. Would he pretend like it never happened, be angry with her, apologize? Nothing like this had ever happened inside the Golden Trio. She just didn't know what to think.

Hermione checked the watch lying by the side of the sink. 6:45. That was more than enough time to get ready for her first class. Lazily, she proceeded to go about the rest of her morning routine.

'o'

About 45 minutes later, she came down the stairs, smiling to see that no one had removed the Christmas decorations yet. As she bent down to pick up her school books, she heard Draco's footsteps descending the stone steps. She walked over to where he stood, gushing out rather quickly, "Draco! Can I ask you a question?"

"Good morning to you, too, Granger," Draco said, yawning and strategically rumpling his blonde locks.

"I'm serious," she said, with a small smile.

"As am I." She gave him a more than skeptical look. "What?!" he exclaimed. "Oh, alright. Shoot."

"Okay," she began. "I can't believe I'm asking this from YOU of all people-"

"What so bad about me?!"

"Oh, nevermind! Just let me finish." He rolled his eyes, but remained silent. She began again, "I just wanted to know what I should do, about, you know, the situation from last night." She let out a deep breath, looking expectantly at him.

"I, well, I don't know!" Her eyes pleaded with him, which unfortunately began to turn him on instead of making him think harder. Stupid Draco! Think of something unsexy… Like Professor Sprout in lingerie…

"Draco, are you okay? You look sick!" Hermione questioned worriedly, her mind immediately flashed back to her first detention with him.

"What?" he said, as though snapping out of a trance. "No, I'm fine." He noticed the immense concern in her eyes, saying, "I promise."

"Okay," she said, glancing at her watch. "Shit! I have to get to class. Well, Draco, I'll see you-what? What's so funny?"

When he was able to calm down enough to speak, "Granger! Swearing! End! Of! World!"

"Oh, shut up, Draco," she said with a small smile, taking it only as it was meant - a joke. "I'll see you later…" she trailed off, grabbing her cloak and heading for the portrait hole.

'o'

She strode down the hall, realizing too late that she had forgotten to ask Draco for advice. She sighed, making her way down towards the Greek students' lodgings, hoping to walk with Costas to class.

Hermione came to the entrance hall, spotting the hunk himself in the doorway to the lawns. She waved at him, big smile on her face. Strangely, he didn't wave back. He mustn't have seen me, she reassured herself. He turned away from her, glancing out over the lawns. Hermione took this opportunity to place her hands over his eyes from behind.

Before she could say, "Guess who?", he had forcefully brought her arms down. She stared back at him in disbelief. "Costas?"

"What?" he spat out acidly, whipping around to face her.

Hermione was too weirded out. This was not her Costas, the playful, sweet Costas full of life. This Costas had vacant eyes, and had seemingly turned bitter overnight. She somehow enabled herself to maintain a certain resolve, saying, "We have to get to class. It's Herbology," she said, wrapping her cloak tightly around herself. She stepped past him, out into the biting cold of the December morning.

"Hermione!" What sounded like the Costas she knew and loved called out to her. She walked quickly back up the steps. She was still all too weirded out by this whole situation, but more than happy to get the old Costas back.

He spoke again. "Vacation means no class," he said to her, as if she were a small, unknowing child.

She mentally slapped herself, realizing that Costas was all too right. "I am such an idiot…" she mumbled, hanging her head in mock shame. "Well, we may as well have breakfast, anyway."

"Whatever Hermione says," Costas said, smiling and kissing her neck, following her towards the Great Hall.

'o'

"Want to go for a walk?" Costas asked Hermione after they had returned her unneeded books to the common room she shared with Draco.

"It's a little cold, but I guess I don't see why not," she replied, linking her arm in his and resting her head on his inviting shoulder.

Within a few minutes, they were walking along the shores of the large lake, faces turned towards the weak winter afternoon sun, talking about any random thing that popped into their heads.

From far, far, above, someone watched their progress from the window of the Owlery. Carefully avoiding any owl droppings that were scattered about the floor, Draco had noticed the bushy head of hair that was undoubtedly Hermione's along with the bundled Greek that was undoubtedly Costas. He probably was supposed to spend the day with Artemis, but Draco swore that he would not spend one unnecessary moment with his charge.

His eyes followed them across the sloping, frosted lawns of Hogwarts towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He watched them talk, Hermione waving her arms animatedly and Costas unmoving. He saw the Greek grab her arms, twisting them into what seemed, even from yards away, to be a painful position. I didn't think I'd have to play Superman twice in two days, Draco thought as he rushed from his position at the Owlery window, thundering down the many steps to the Entrance Hall more than eight stories below.

'o'

"Costas! What are you doing to me?!" Hermione screeched out in pain as he held his steadfast grip on her arms. Much to Hermione's despair, ignoring his strange state from before had not kept him from lapsing into it once again.

He stared back at her with those same vacant eyes that Hermione had feared so much, saying in a monotonous tone, "You will come with me." He tightened his grip on her again, causing her to scream even louder in pain.

"Please, Costas," she pleaded in a whimper. "Let me go." With consent, he loosened his grip slightly. Hermione took the opportunity to whip her wand out of her pocket and step back, threatening him with the tip of her wand. "Make one more move and you'll regret it," she said as fearfully as she could manage. He responded only with vacant eyes.

"Costas, I don't want to hurt you. You're not right - what has happened to you?" He responded only with another attempt to overpower her. Without enough time to utter a spell, she flipped her wand around, jabbing Costas in the eye with its blunt end. He cowered, falling back into the hard ground and clutching his hurt eye. Hermione took this opportunity to make a run for it.

As she sprinted forward, all focuses on getting to the front door of the castle, she didn't notice Costas running behind her until she had to pause to open the heavy wooden door. She tried to shut it on him, but it was too immense to be maneuvered quickly. She ran into the Entrance Hall, shooting a red jet of light over her shoulder. She heard her Stunning Spell hit Costas with a satisfying thud, but she didn't dare to stop running. Just when she thought she couldn't run any longer, Hermione ran head long into Draco as she was exiting the Entrance Hall.

He lightly gripped her shoulders, asking, "Hermione! What's the matter?"

She hadn't even noticed that she had had tears streaming down her face. "Oh, Draco," she said, burying her head into his chest.

"C'mon, let's just go up to the common room," he said, draping an arm around her shoulder and leading her slowly up the many flights of stairs to the room. They remained silent until he led her through the portrait and onto one of the large couches in front of the fireplace.

Hermione looked up at Draco with a weak smile on her face before her eyelids slowly closed and she drifted off to sleep.

'o'

Hours later, she was gently awoken by the soft, warm aroma of French vanilla tea. She opened her eyes to see Draco quietly scribbling on a piece of parchment, eyes darting back and forth between text and scroll. When he reached out to take a sip of his own mug, he looked to Hermione and realized she was awake. He got up and went to give her her tea. She propped herself up on her elbow, moving to an upright position. She gladly accepted her tea, sipping it gratefully.

Draco was the first to speak, saying, "Feeling better?"

"Much," she replied. A moment of silence passed as they drank, feeling the warmth of the ever-crackling fire. "Draco, I… I just wanted you to know how thankful I am that at least someone is there for me. Between all the people I thought I was close to, no one ever is. One of them is off with his girlfriend only-God-knows-where, one of them still hasn't apologized for practically beating me under the influence, and one of them," she paused to sniffle and wipe away the lone tear sliding silently down her cheek, "one of them isn't even himself anymore." Hermione paused again to regain her composure. "I mean, I guess it's kind of weird, but I feel most of the time that I can only seriously talk to guys, but it's just like all of the sudden they want nothing to do with me. I just don't know what to do."

"Granger, I guess it's also kind of weird, but if we happen to be in the common room at the same time, and you're feeling down, I guess you can talk to me…if you need to," Draco replied, hoping to somehow comfort her.

"Thanks," she said, meaning every letter. "To think that we would be actually talking civilly after all of these years of hostility… It's amazing." She placed her head on his chest, seeing how he would react. He did nothing to stop her.

They remained quiet for a few more minutes, feeling drowsier with each tick of the second hand, despite the caffeine boost they had gotten from the tea.

Hermione had one last thought lingering on her mind before she drifted off, and so she asked him, "Before, in the Entrance Hall, did you by chance call me…Hermione?" But she got no response, save his steady, even breathing beside her on the couch.

A/N: Review! You know you want to! And don't worry…there's PLENTY more to come. I am sooo immensely sorry that it took so incredibly long. I hope you know that I will most likely fail both my Pre-Cal and Modern World tests tomorrow because I stayed up to write this. Be thankful, fools! Just kidding. But please, review and tell me what you thought!

And now, my favorite time, which is thanking all you great people who had the decency to review!

ellen2321: I love Ron, too! He'll come up in the next chapter, don't worry. Ohh… this should be good, seeing how Hermione deals with him and all… :)

fourthiv: Yes, I know, the complicated twirling of the plot is so great! I'm surprised I don't watch more soap operas… FanFictions will do just fine, though! :D

SonChristine: One word: Inufestage! But really, you rock for reviewing every chapter when you totally don't need to! Unlike :cough Michelle cough: SOME people…

bonessasan: Stay tuned. It only gets more unexpected and better!

Pixie-Poison: Draco, is OFCOURSEIVELY hot, and Costas is DEFinitely meant to sound that way. :D

shanmo: Keep reviewing! You rock!

I also wanted to let you guys know, if you didn't already, that I have started a C2 Community entirely based on Draco/Hermione FanFictions…you might want to check it out!

Until next time,

Charlotte ;)