As she opened the door, she saw Draco with his head in his hands.
"What is it? What happened? What did I do?" She said quickly.
He looked up, with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face. She got very confused.
"My father died early this morning. And all I can think about right now, is you." He said, and started laughing madly.
"He…he died?"
"Yes, finally went mad…killed himself." He said in a distant voice.
"Oh, Draco. I'm so sorry." She said as she ran to his side and hugged him close.
"It's ok." He said quietly. "Do you understand what this means?" he asked her.
"I …I don't know. What?"
"We can be together. We don't have to worry about anything anymore. We can be ourselves."
She sat in silence, mulling over the words he spoke. The decisions she'd have to make. The sacrifices.
Harry would understand. But Ron wouldn't. But at this point in time, she really didn't care.
"Do you want to be with me , Hermione?" He asked. "or was this all a game?"
She looked at him and saw pain in his eyes. Anger as well.
"What do you mean?"
"You're not answering me at all. Your expression hasn't changed."
"Draco, you cant possible tell me how I feel. I'm rationalizing the situation." She said, putting her hand on his knee. He got up swiftly and walked across the room.
"Of course." He said , furiously. "That's all you know how to do. Rationalize. Think."
"Excuse me?" She said, stunned. " I don't think I like the way you're talking to me."
"Well I don't like the way I feel right now." He screamed.
"What are you feeling? If you could maybe fill me in, I could try to help." She said softly.
He started to pace with his anger flaring. He punched the wall quickly. Hermione let out a frightened gasp.
"Draco? Talk to me. Please. We can't fix anything if you're going to shut yourself away from me."
"What is that suppose to mean?" He asked , screaming again.
"It means you're treating me very wrongly right now, and I'd like you take a step back and consider your actions!" She finaly screamed at him.
"Deal with it." He said, crossly. And he walked out of the room.
She sat there, once more in silence.
What just happened? She thought to herself. How could someones persona change within 2 minutes?
She left slowly and walked back to the dormitories. This night was too confusing. So full of emotion.
She never thought that she'd be in a situation like this with Draco. How could this all happen within a week?
The next few days, they avoided each other. It seemed that Draco thought it best to act like he used to. He ignored her for the most part, but if he had to converse with her, he was openly rude.
But nothing hurt more, than when he called her mudblood for the first time since they had made amends. She tried to talk to him for the billionth time. He pushed past her and spit in her face.
"How dare you talk to me….m..m..mudblood." He stuttered.
She cried all the way to her dormitory. And didn't eat supper that night.
She made her way to the library for the 40th time that week. It was the only place she could escape everything. If she just opened a book and started reading, she could forget it all.
She couldn't forget the aching in her heart though.
"Mione?" said a voice, waking her out of her reading refuge.
"What is it Harry?"
"What did he do?" He asked simply.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said, looking back down at her book.
"Don't play stupid with me. What did Malfoy do?"
She looked at him. She could trust him. He would understand. So she broke down and told him everything , from the beginning to the end. He didn't say a word.
"So, here I am. Even more miserable than I was before." She finished, out of breath.
He sat back, taking in everything she said.
"Don't you see what happened? He only reverted back to his old personality because it's all that he knows. Now that his father is gone, he doesn't know where to start. How to become his own person."
He did make sense. A lot of sense. And why she couldn't see that herself, baffled her.
She got back to her dormitories and sat down to write him a letter.
Draco,
Before throwing this away, please read it and listen to what I have to say. I care very deeply for you and I don't want to see you upset. I don't want to see you hurt or angry. And I know I cannot prevent life from happening, but I can atleast be there for you while it does. So please, just let me in and don't worry about the way things used to be. We've changed and for the better. YOU have changed for the better. And I believe in you and what you can be.
H
A week had gone by and no word from Draco. In fact, she hadn't seen him at all. He came to class late and left as soon as he could, making sure to have the seat closest to the doors.
She took it for what it was. He didn't want help. He was fine without her. She didn't want to believe it though.
One night as she was walking back from dinner she was grabbed by the arm and pulled into a desolate classroom. She started to scream but a strong hand covered her mouth.
Then she heard "Lumos" whipered.
There before her, stood Draco. His hair falling onto his forehead and his eyes bloodshot.
"Granger..I.."
"Oh, so we're back to last names now?" Hermione said, gathering strength. She wasn't going to be made a fool.
"Please just…"
"NO! No. You've tortured me for the past 2 weeks. Worse than ever before. I don't want to listen to what you have to say, frankly. I didn't expect it from Ron, but you….ha…I should have expected it from you. But that doesn't make it hurt any less. In fact, it hurts more. So please, if you would kindly move aside, I'll get on with my life." She said all in a bustle.
He pinned her against the wall. "You're not going to walk away from me." he said angrily.
"No, that's your job." She said coldly.
His grip loosened and his eyes stared back at her with pain.
"It's the only thing I know how to do, Hermione. I don't know how to love. I don't know how to be nice. I'm not designed like that." he said softly.
"You're not designed that way? You're not a robot. You're a human being capable of love and happiness. You wont LET yourself be capable of that."
He looked at her and smiled. "Roobot? What's a roobot?"
"It's a muggle contraption..that… Oh hush." she said trying to hide her smile.
Things were quiet for a minute.
"Hermione, I probably can't make up for my actions. But …let me try. Please?" He said in a husky voice, moving closer to her.
"I don't want to be hurt anymore, Draco. I can't take that again."
"Then I'll spend the rest of my life, trying to prevent that."
Then he pressed his lips firmly against hers.
a/n Sorry for the delay. I've been actually working on this chapter for 3 days. Hah. SO yeah. Review guys!
