Disclaimer: I own nothing, just the plot.
Chapter Nine
"Running away will never make you free" Kenny Loggins
"You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing his uses to frighten you" Erik Hoffer
His eyes never left her. Taking a sip of his coffee, he submerged himself in the delight he would find in her pain. But she wasn't feeling pain. She was happy. This annoyed him greatly. Ever since she had walked into the Great Hall she had had a bounce to her step and a smile to her face. She sat with her precious friends, amusing herself in the jokes she never had cared for in the beginning. It was pathetic.
How could he be feeling so much pain seeing her happy? He was the reason for it. He didn't want her happy. He wanted her to sulk in misery. He wanted to see her cry, out his name in torment as he walked away from her. He wanted to hear her screaming after him in agony as her shattered her heart. He wanted so much. But for now he was stuck with seeing her like this. Oh how he despised it.
Draco stood from his seat and left the Great Hall in distress. She was insufferable, and he couldn't take the sight of her any longer. Hermione caught the last glimpse of his robes as he flew out the door.
Smirking to herself, she excused herself from the table, explaining her need to go to the library and pick up books. No one questioned her, it was a common trait of Hermione's to be caught in the library for hours at a time.
Rounding the corner down the hall from the Great Hall, she had anticipated he would be there. But he wasn't. That didn't mean she couldn't feel his presence, Hermione had always had a sixth sense for feeling things like this. She picked it up from the many times her step-father would sneak up on her and beat her senseless.
Draco watched in the shadow as she searched for him. He enjoyed seeing the confusion etched in her face. Then she caught a sliver of blonde hair reflect in the light. Hermione closed the space between them. Standing a few feet from him, she put her hands on her hips and stared at him. She looked so smug, it angered him.
Now was the time.
Draco emerged from the shadow that was concealing him. Hermione instantly back away, sensing something terribly wrong. Was it the emotionless look on his face, or the evilness apparent in his eyes? They gave a little twinkle that reminded her of the days he would insult her until she broke down. Fear sent Hermione's spirit plunging down to her stomach.
"Draco?" she said cautiously. Draco's eyes turned to malice.
"How dare you refer to me by my first name!" he growled. "You have no right." Hermione took a step towards him. She didn't know what his deal was today, but calling him by his name didn't seem so big of a deal under the circumstance.
"What are you talking about? What the hell happened?" Hermione's eyes had skepticism in them.
"You," Draco stated simply. Hermione's eyes turned from skeptical to confused. Draco hated that look on her, she looked so stupid, and he hated stupid. "Granger, Granger, Granger…" he clicked silently. Taking steps towards her, she in turn took steps away from him.
"What? Do you expect us to fall in love with each other and live happily ever after?" Hermione stayed silent. There was something in his voice that scared her. "Did you start to think I had feelings for you?" He cooed. Hermione felt her back hit the wall that had stood behind her. She felt trapped, she didn't like feeling trapped.
"Draco what" Draco slapped her hard before she got out her third word. The corridors of the school had never been so silent. It was deadly. I could make any Death Eater tremble or have Peeves fly away.
Hermione's body froze in the position it placed itself into after the slap. She couldn't breath, she couldn't think. She couldn't even grasp the situation enough to shed a single tear. Her face stung and she didn't even feel it. A loud crack sounded. What was that? Just the sound of her heart splitting into two again.
She had become accustomed to that sound. Eventually throughout time she no longer heard it. Her heart had turned to stone and became impossible to break.
Draco pressed himself against her, pinning Hermione to the wall. "How could I ever feel for something like you?" he whispered in her ear. "You are a filthy, disgusting, good-for-nothing mudblood. Nothing more, and couldn't possibly be anything less. I got exactly what I wanted out of you. A single. Good. Lay." Draco punctuated the last three words to emphasize his point.
"I wanted to see if the rumors about you were true, that you were as good in bed as you are in school. Guess what… they were false!" Draco shoved himself off of her. He brushed his garments off, trying to rid them of any germs the half-blood might have passed on to them. Turning, the sounds of his steps were accompanied by nothing.
There were no tears.
There were no cries.
Her voice didn't ring in the hallway like he wanted. She didn't fling herself at him telling him that he was mistaken and that something was wrong. She didn't scream for him to come back, and she didn't run away.
Hermione stayed against the wall in the same position, silent as death. She didn't blink, she didn't breathe; she simply stood still as a statue as her mind tried with all its power to weigh her options.
