Who Are You?
Chapter 5 : The Invitation and The Sketch
One week had gone by and Draco was sucking everything up. He had read through her books numerous times, and was starting to remember the lessons of previous years. Eventually, he had told his "family" that he would be spending a lot of time with Hermione, and that he would be leaving with her at the end of July. They, of course, were not happy with this, but understood. Right now, however, he was daydreaming while Hermione was talking about lunch. He suddenly snapped out of it, and interrupted her.
"Would you have dinner with me on Friday?"
"What?" Hermione was confused and surprised, but tried her hardest to hide it.
"I mean, have dinner at my house, with my family and everything. Meryl and Tom really want to meet you."
"Oh, um, yeah I guess. I'll have to check with Mrs. Sena, but I'm sure it'll be fine."
Hermione was greatly confused. She almost felt……disappointed. She shook her head. No, it was something else. Maybe she was coming down with something.
"Alright, well let me know tomorrow, cause Meryl's sorta twitchy about it, ya know?"
"Yeah, parents tend to get that way."
"Do you miss your parents? It must be hard, not being able to see them."
"Oh well, sometimes I do. I used to miss them all the time, but then…I got older, and sorta changed I guess. My parents didn't, and we sorta fought a lot of the time. Now, we don't see each other that much, so when we are together, we all try our hardest not to fight."
"That makes sense. It'll just be so weird, ya know, when I don't see them all everyday."
"Well, there are lots of things to do at Grimwald place. Not all of them are fun, but there's always an opportunity to spy on someone, or some conversation. It's going to be so weird, introducing you to Harry and Ron."
"I wonder how they'll react?"
"Well, first it will be shock, then it will be confusion, then anger, then confusion again, and after all that, it'll take them quite awhile to actually trust you."
"Oh, well that's a piece of cake, why didn't you say so?" He said sarcastically, making Hermione laugh. Then he started laughing, and they ended up spending the rest of lunch bursting into laughter every time they glanced at each other.
It was Friday, and Hermione was a bunch of nerves. Roxy had helped her pick out a knee-length khaki skirt, with an army green tee, and black flip-flops. Half her hair was in a ponytail, and the other half was tumbling down her back. She had minimal make-up on (one thing she would not budge on).
"Are you sure this is enough? I don't want to be underdressed."
"Hermione, it'll be fine. You British people need to chill out. Relax! You're in America, not the UK. You look great."
"Alright, if you say so. However, if you're wrong, I will make you pay." She fake glared at Roxy.
"Yeah, yeah. Just leave already. You have to make a good impression, and tell me everything. His parents just have to like you."
"Why? We're just friends, and they aren't even his real parents."
"Whatever. Just go, and have fun!"
"Bye."
Five minutes later Mrs. Sena pulled up in front of his house, said a few soothing words, and then almost had to push her out of the car. Hermione went to the door, looked down at herself, smoothed her hair (which was semi-straight), and proceeded to knock on the door.
"Oooh, I'll get it! I'll get it!" She heard through the door, and sure enough, the door opened and Hermione was greeted with a little girl, who had white-blonde hair and brown eyes. Hermione smiled at her, and guessed she was about six.
"Hi."
"Hey! What's your name? Are you Hermione? Guess what? I think Ryan likes you. He talks about you all the time. Oh, and I'm Cecelia."
"Wow. Yes, I am Hermione, and it's nice to meet you Cecelia."
"Ok, good. Come in, come in!"
Just then, Draco came down the stairs.
"Oh, hey. I thought that might be you. I see you've met Cecelia."
"Yes, and apparently, you have "like" me. Why didn't you tell me? Cecelia had to tell me." She was grinning. Draco now looked quite pale, and nervous.
"Cecelia! Not true Hermione. Just as a friend, really. Cecelia just has all these crazy ideas, none of them true."
"That's not true! Hermione, he's lying. He told me. Ryan you liar!"
"Whatever." He rolled his eyes, and Hermione fought back a laugh.
"Fine, be that way. Hermione, do you want to play? I have lots of dolls and Barbies, and a lot of fun stuff!"
"Now, CeCe that wouldn't be any fair." Hermione looked to the doorway of the kitchen. Standing there was a middle-aged woman with blonde hair and green eyes. She stepped forward a bit.
"Hello, dear. I'm Meryl, so nice to meet you."
"A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Meryl. Draco's told me so much about you."
"Draco?"
"Oh, right. Sorry, I mean Ryan."
"Oh, is that his real name? He wouldn't tell any of us. We've heard a lot about you too." She grinned ruefully at Draco. "Now, you wouldn't mind if I stole him for a bit, would you? Maybe Cecelia could give you a tour. Dinner will be ready shortly."
"No, I wouldn't mind at all. Lead the way, Cecelia."
So Cecelia giggled happily, and began her tour. She led Hermione through the living room. (proudly showing her collection of Disney movies), then upstairs. They got to her lilac-colored room (the most important room in the house), and while Cecelia was busy rooting through her closet, Hermione couldn't help but wonder if Draco had his own room. So she decided to ask Cecelia.
"Cecelia, does Dr-I mean Ryan have his own room?"
"Yeah. Oh, I almost forgot. I found Ryan's secret! I have to show you. Come on, hurry!"
Cecelia grabbed her hand and quickly left the room. She led Hermione into a dark green room, which had a desk, bed, and dresser, all in a dark wood. There were posters all over the place, and she spotted quite a few concert passes. She didn't have much time to look around though, as Cecelia dragged her to the bed and made her sit with her eyes closed. Hermione could hear her moving about, and then felt a notebook slip into her lap. She opened her eyes and saw Cecelia smiling at her. She made the quiet sign with her finger, and then opened the notebook. Hermione gasped. It was not a notebook, but a sketchbook.
"These are beautiful. Cecelia, does Ryan draw these?" She whispered.
"Yeah. Look, this one is of you. You look really mad in this one, too. And in this one, you look really sad."
"Cecelia, are you sure Ryan drew these. All these pictures of me?" Her voice was slightly shaking.
"Yes. He showed me. Don't you like them? I think they are pretty."
"Yes, they are very pretty. Can I look through the rest of it?"
"I guess, but it's boring."
"It's okay. I won't take long."
Hermione quickly skimmed through the book. Halfway through the book, she found a close up of her face, drawn with incredible detail. She saw her eyes, and shuttered. It was if he had memorized her face. She traced the outline of her face, and then saw something written by the bottom left corner.
' "Who are you?" 1/19 '
She just stared at it for a moment. January? JANUARY?! He drew her face in January! She quickly flipped through, finding more sketches of herself. They all looked mad. The eyes were always the same – Full of Hatred. Hermione came to the last page. She was smiling. The only picture where she was smiling. She quickly grew mad. Cecelia noticed this.
"What's wrong Hermione?"
"Ryan lied to me too, Cecelia. He lied about a very big thing."
"Are you mad at him? Like I was?"
"Yes, I need to talk to him."
"Oooh, are you gonna yell? Come on, come on! Let's go!"
Hermione, still holding the book, allowed Cecelia to lead her down the stairs. Draco was just coming out of the kitchen.
"Oh, hey. I was about to come and get you."
"Ooooooh, she's mad at you!!" Squealed Cecelia. Just then Zach walked into the room.
"Oh, hey, guys. When did you get here Hermione?"
"Oh, not to long ago." She nodded pleasantly at him, then turned to Draco.
"How dare you? How dare you lie to me?!"
"What are you talking about?"
She threw the sketchbook at him.
"That's what I'm talking about! You told me you couldn't remember anything! The date is the 19th! Of January! JANUARY! You remember me – and you didn't tell me! God, how stupid of me to believe you!"
"What? No, listen, you don't understand!"
"Understand what, Draco? That you lied to me? That you do remember? I was stupid to think you would ever change! You'll always be the same Draco Malfoy – son of a Deatheater, and an evil bastard!"
"Hermione please." He reached out to touch her, but she dodged away.
"It's Granger to you Malfoy! And don't you even think about touching me. I never want to see you again!"
Hermione was fighting back tears now. 'How could he do this to me? I thought he changed'
A boom of thunder resounded, but Hermione didn't hear it.
"Never again, Malfoy."
With that, she left the whole room stunned. Draco seemed incapable of moving, and Hermione ran out of the house. She kept running, oblivious to the thunder and lightning. Just as she reached the park, it started to rain. Hurt, confused, and now wet, Hermione collapsed to the ground, letting her tears flow.
Meanwhile, Draco was in a state of panic. It had started to rain shortly after she left, and then the power went out. That's when he snapped out of it, and grabbed his coat. He ran out the door after her, and proceeded to look around the small town. He didn't notice the rain, or how cold he had become. One object was on his mind. So, when he saw her, sitting in the rain in the middle of the park, he ran straight to her. She heard him coming, and stood up.
"Go away, Malfoy!"
"Hermione, please, let me explain!"
"No. I don't want to hear your lies. Leave me alone." She started to walk away, but stopped short when he murmured something indecipherable, and she halted her footsteps.
"What?" Damn her curiosity!
He moved closer to her.
"I wanted to see you smile."
She turned around, and saw he had his hands shoved in his pockets, and his head down low.
"What? But…but why?" His head shot up, as though he was surprised to see her there.
"You never smiled in my dreams. I would dream about you all the time. I just couldn't remember who you were. You were always so mad, I never saw you smile. I could never picture what it looked like. It consumed me. I could think of nothing except that. You consumed Hermione. When I saw you, I couldn't just tell you I'd been having dreams about you. I mean, come on, how would that sound? I just had to see you smile. It lights your whole face up, and it's so much better than when you're glaring at me. I mean, do you have any idea how scary you look when you're mad?"
He had slowly moved towards her, and now he was less than a foot away from her. He could see she was arguing with herself about what to say. Ever so slowly, he moved his hand up to her face, wiping away the rain and tears from her cheek with his thumb. Her eyes snapped to his.
"Draco…"
"Please, just let me make you smile."
She leaned into his palm, and he touched his forehead to hers. Their eyes still locked together, Draco moved his other arm to wrap around he petite waist, moving his body closer to hers. It was because of this, that he could feel her trembling.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm fine, just dandy."
They both grinned at each other, and Draco was just about to kiss her, when –
"RYAN! What the HELL were you THINKING?! Come on, man – the car is stuck in the garage!"
Zach had come running after Draco, and interrupted them. Draco and Hermione both backed away from each other a bit.
"But, Draco, if the car in stuck in the garage, how I am supposed to get home?"
He just smiled wickedly and then turned around to yell back to Zach. Hermione's eyes widened as she realized what was going to happen. If Mrs. Sena's car was also stuck in the garage, she would have to spend the night at his house.
Well………what do you think? Let me know. I don't have anything witty or random to say, so I'll just go. See you later.
Vamoose! BAM! SwooshSwift! $arah
