Author's Note:
DMHG4ever: Thanks!
Catwoman24: Thanks!
Ferald: I guess I should have explained it better, but in one of the first paragraphs, it says: "Did I say something to you, Granger? Look its bad enough living with you for the last year-" Last year meaning it was the last year of Hogwarts for them. He's Head Boy and she's Head Girl.
Chapter Two
Hermione ran from the library, Harry trying to catch up to her. He grabbed her arm and tried to turn her around. She pulled away, trying to hide her tears. "Leave me alone, Harry."
"What did he do to you?"
"Nothing, leave me alone!" Hermione yelled pushing him away. Harry watched her run towards the entrance of the school. She ran out into the sunny, warm weather, tears streaming down her face. She hated Draco Malfoy and wished her were dead.
She ran into the Herbology green house, only to see Professor Sprout looking at her. Hermione turned around and went for the door but was stopped.
"Hermione, why are you crying?"
"I, uh, can't go back to my house for Christmas break. I have to stay here." Hermione lied.
"Oh, well if it makes you feel any better I've decided not to have the test and instead start a new unit on a book called The Rules of the Daffodil Love. It's quite interesting and I'm sure everyone will like it. I know you will." Hermione nodded her head not knowing if she should cry more or be happy the test was gone.
She sat down, wiping her eyes as more students filled into the green house. Harry sat next to her. He looked at her worryingly. "What's wrong, Hermione? Please tell me."
"Nothing Harry, nothing is wrong. Just leave it at that."
"Quiet down, quiet down!" Professor Sprout shouted. "I have thrown out the tests and instead we will be starting a book called The Rules of the Daffodil Love." Everyone seemed to smile and clap.
She began reading the book, but only one person seemed interested in it;
Winter seemed to turn into spring and spring into summer. But it still hurt to remember the past. The winter was often cruel to me and spring bit at my frostbitten thoughts. But everything the hurt soon faded into the sun and clouds. Flowers started to sprout from each and every corner that I could imagine. I could not escape happiness no matter how hard I tried, for then I hardly knew what it meant. All my life I had been living in the darkness.
Summer that year was so much different from what I had remembered. As I recalled, that summer was the first summer I had ever experienced my love for the world around me.
My eyes were covered in sunglasses when they first met his. He stared at me and I didn't seem to mind. My friends were his friends although we didn't know each other. Finally he struck me with a conversation about the environment. I was intrigued and I knew he was smart. His name was Jake and although all my friends called me Jess or Jessie, he called me Jessica.
He touched the tender flower called the daffodil. "It's gorgeous, don't you think? Something that only lasts for the summer, for just a little while, ends up being the most beautiful thing there." And that's when the summer of the daffodils started.
The flowers were delicate, the steam and leaves slender, but the bud bright. Too bad everything only lasted for a while in summer.
No one in the class but Hermione seemed to be listening. She was very fascinated by the book. Everything she knew only lasted for a while.
"If you kids don't stop talking I won't read this anymore and the test will be back tomorrow. My goodness, you're all, what, 17 and 16 years old! Stop acting like your 11!"
"Sorry, Professor Sprout, the book is just really boring." Seamus Finnegan blurted out. Hermione looked back at him. He was such a goody good and so popular that no one ever cared if he said something rude, not even the teachers. He looked at her and licked his lips. Hermione turned around; she figured for a while that Seamus Finnegan had always liked her but never told anyone. She was scared of him; unlike she was scared of Draco Malfoy. She didn't know why though.
Later that day Hermione walked down to her dormitory, ready to confront Draco Malfoy if he had anything to say to her.
She walked into the dark room; it had started raining in the last house. There he was starting a fire. Hermione stood there looking at him.
"A lot of people wish I were dead don't they?" Draco asked. Hermione blinked and put her stuff on the ground.
"I didn't mean it," He smirked that famous smirk of his. It was silent for a minute, Hermione just standing there.
"Why did you kiss me then?" Hermione asked. "Why did you kiss me if you hated me?"
"I needed comfort; you were the first person who ever listened to me. No one really cares." Draco confessed, poking at the fire. "But that never meant we were friends."
"I noticed, you tried to kill me. Remember?" Draco looked at her for the first time.
"I wouldn't have done it."
"Yeah you would have, you hate me that much."
"You don't know me at all, Granger. Don't judge me if you don't know anything about me."
"Hmm, of all people to say 'don't judge me', you seemed to judge me a lot." Hermione told him walking over to the couch and sitting behind him. "Got anything to say about that?"
"I never really judged you, what I knew I talked about. I just called you a mud blood. It's called stating the facts. I did, I didn't spread rumors, did I." Hermione thought. He never spread rumors…ever. He was only telling the truth to his friends.
"Well you didn't have to make fun of us about our flaws." Draco looked back at her.
"You didn't have to make fun of us about our flaws. Just because Crabbe and Goyle are fat and stupid-"
"And you're a dick-wad and Parkinson is a bitch. Yeah I'd say that pretty make-fun-of-worthy for us Gryffindors." Draco glared at her. "And just because you tried to kill me doesn't mean you're nice or cool either. A third of the school would hate you for that."
"Shut up, like you're not a bitch either."
"I've never been a bitch to you. I was just wondering when you were going to pull that stick out of your ass. When you would stop moping around about your dad raping your mum." Hermione blurted out. She knew this would get her in trouble.
Draco rose off the ground and turned to her. "Shut up, Granger! You know nothing about that! Don't talk about shit you know nothing about!"
"I didn't mean it-"
"To hell you didn't mean!" Draco grabbed her by the shoulders, and picked her off the couch. He threw her to the ground, making a loud thump on the ground. He got on top of her. Her heart was beating faster then a sprinter's feet could go. Pain filled her back, he had thrown her hard.
"Get off of me!" Hermione screamed. She pushed on his chest, but he firmly pressed her arms against the ground. She screamed with tears flowing in streams down her face from the pain and terrifying thoughts entering her mind.
"You want to feel how it is to be raped, Granger. Then watch your days slowly die down? You want to cry every day? Tell your friends, watch them mope around, feeling depressed for you. They'll want to kill me, won't they, Granger? You'll want to kill me, won't you? You want to be raped? Huh, tell me right now."
"Get off of me!" Hermione screamed again. He loosened up and she pushed him off, onto the ground. She got on top of him and slapped his face, then punching him in the chest. He grabbed her by the wrists and sat up, getting so close to her, their noses were side to side.
"Don't ever let someone do that to you, Granger. Don't ever let it happen to you." She felt a rivulet of his tears falling onto her own nose. He loosened his grip around her wrists and she brought her hands to the back of his neck, grasping his white, blonde hair and cried into his neck.
"Don't do this to me anymore, Malfoy. I don't mean the things I say."
"Then don't say them," He whispered, his lips brushing over her ear. Her lips brushed across his neck, as her sobs lessened. Her hands drifted from the beck of his neck to his cheeks. He rubbed the sore spot on her back; he knew his own strength very well.
"Don't do this anymore, don't." Hermione whispered, bringing her face to look at his. She hated him so much, yet she didn't know why, of all people, she went to him for comfort. She hated his face, his body, his personality, everything he said, but most of all she hated his lips.
He stood up, grabbing her hands. He hugged her but she pushed him away. She went to her room and slammed the door. She got into her bed, wrapping herself in the blankets and fell asleep.
Draco fell onto the couch onto his stomach, shoving a pillow under his head and fell asleep as well.
§¤§
He came to me in mid morning, while I was having brunch with my friends. He kissed me on the cheek and sat down next to me. Jake was caring, very caring. I loved him for that. Just like always, he had brought me a daffodil. I didn't know why he was so fascinated with these flowers. Did I remind him of the flowers? Maybe I did, I never got the chance to ask him.
Summer was all in bloom, but it was planning on ending in next to no time. Summer always had to end too fast for me. I was loving the world because for the first time it was giving me love to hold on to.
Draco Malfoy sat in the hot and humid green house. He was bored with Professor Sprout's words. He hated the book. He hated his summers too; in fact he hated his whole year. He also didn't believe in love. Love made no sense.
Draco watched Crabbe snore. The stupid fat lard was asleep. He didn't know someone who could sleep for the whole day. He certainly couldn't. So he smacked him on the arm. The lardy boy didn't wake up, he just drooled. Draco then punched him in the arm. Crabbe sat up straight and wiped the drool away from his face. Draco looked at his quill acting as if he hadn't done anything.
"I was having a dream and then it turned into a night mare when that stupid mud blood Granger tried to kiss me. Then she punched me in the arm and I woke up. Is that weird or what?" Draco stared at him, wanting to burst out laughing.
He remembered Hermione Granger; they hadn't spoken to each other sense the night before. She avoided him; he figured she was finally afraid of him. She never cracked when they ran into each other.
Draco remembered crying with her; it was a moment he would never show his friends or anyone. But he showed her. It was out of the ordinary for him to trust a mud blood who he didn't even know that well, to trust her with all of his other sides that no one else saw. Not even Pansy Parkinson. He was silent and she was so scared the night before. She was hanging on to him as if he were her favorite doll. Then she put him back on the shelf, he didn't want to be ignored.
"No," Draco whispered. Goyle looked at Draco.
"What?" Draco looked at Goyle and then ignored him.
Nope, he wanted to be ignored by that stupid mud blood. He didn't want to be her friend because she was annoying. Why didn't he kill her that night? He should have, he should have killed her the night before as well. How dare her for making those comments about his mother. He hated her. Or at least he wanted to hate her.
Before he knew it the class was over. He got up and paced to the Great Hall for lunch. He was so unbelievably hungry. He sat down at the table and grabbed a piece of chicken and a glass of Pumpkin Juice. He stuffed his face as fast as he could. Then he saw her, walking into the great hall with that red head Weasley girl. He burped at the sight of her. A burp with disgust that is.
"Hey Draco, did you finish that Divination paper?" Blaise Zabini asked. Draco looked at Blaise, still filling his face. He swallowed the food.
"What paper?"
"What do you mean 'what paper'? We had a three page essay to do for divination about the weather thing."
"Oh shit!" Draco said, getting up. He ran to the bathroom, covering his mouth. He busted into a stall and bent over the toilet. He hated vomit. He hated looking at it. It was gross and it smelled bad. Maybe he had thrown up because of the fact that he had forgotten the whole essay about the weather predictions or maybe it was because he had stuffed his face so fast. Or maybe it was the fact that he saw Granger.
Draco wiped his face and then washed his mouth out with some hot water, hoping the smell would melt away. He huffed and leaned on the wall exhausted from stuffing his face, then running to the bathroom as fast as he could, then throwing up. His stomach killed.
Draco walked up to the Hospital Wing, to ask if he could be excused from Divination. He saw her mending to a first year. A first year dumb ass, always trying to get out of classes; that never worked. Only when you were actually sick could you get out of classes.
"Madame Pomfrey," she turned around and looked surprised.
"Why Draco, you look terribly pale. Let me guess, you have a fever." Draco nodded his head, not even sure if he did have a fever. "Well I will give you a box of popsicles to eat; they should get you back to normal temperatures. I would let you stay here but the summer bug came as you can see." Draco nodded looking around the room. Tons of students were in bed. Draco hated being around sick people.
He took the box of popsicles from her and slumped up to his room. He fell on the couch, tired from everything, and slowly drifted to sleep.
Hermione rose from her seat in D.A.D.A. The classes just seemed to get easier and easier by the moment. Which meant it was getting much more boring.
She walked down to her common room excited that it was finally the weekend. She walked into the room to see him sleeping on the couch with a box of popsicles at hand. She had seen him run out of the Great Hall, covering her mouth. She wondered what happened.
Hermione dropped her books on the floor, a loud clatter coming from them. He woke up, surprised from the sound. He rubbed his eyes, yawned and then looked at her. She wasn't scared of him…ever.
"Bloody hell, didn't you see I was sleeping!" He yelled. He rolled over onto his back, putting his box of popsicles on his stomach. He took one out, which happened to be cherry, took the wrapped off and shoved it in his mouth. His chewing was loud and obnoxious.
Hermione sat down in the leather chair. He glared at her, still eating obnoxiously. Hermione's stomach turned, watching the red popsicle float around in his mouth. She wanted to throw it up for him. "Do you always eat so loud?"
"Yes," Draco said rudely. "Why does it bother you?"
"Yes,"
"Then eat one. Then you'll only be able to hear yourself chew and not me." He threw her a yellow one. She caught it but just looked at it like it was a piece of dog poop. "Eat it, Granger."
"No thanks, I'm not hungry."
"Eat it right now, or I'll shove it down your throat."
"No, I don't want to eat it." Draco looked at her body. She was thin, thinner then most girls. What was her problem?
"Eat it," Draco demanded. Hermione unwrapped it slowly and looked at it. He was still eating obnoxiously, making her want to eat it. But she couldn't; she would throw it up.
"I can't,"
"Why are you anorexic?" Hermione stayed quite still looking at the popsicle. Draco narrowed his eyes. It was true; she was anorexic. He ate louder trying to shut out the thought. How could anybody not want to eat food?
She got up, dropping the popsicle on the floor and went into the bathroom. She slammed the door and sat on the toilet. Draco got up, stuffing the rest of the popsicle in his mouth and walked up to the bathroom door. He knocked twice but there was no answer. He opened the door and peered in at her. She was scratching her head, looking at the floor, tears falling like rain.
"Get out, Malfoy. I don't need your sympathy." She said.
"Well you sure didn't mind it last night."
"That wasn't sympathy for me; you threw me down on the floor and then told me never to say those things again."
"Never mind…" Draco paused as he walked into the bathroom. He shut the door behind him. "But sometimes, you need someone to say it will be alright. You can eat and still be perfect."
"Who said I wanted to be perfect?"
"No one, but you'd probably be perfect if you could eat. I like women who eat," Why was Draco telling her this? He didn't want her at all and no she wouldn't be perfect if she ate. But then again he couldn't really think of anything that was wrong with her. "Plus it's my responsibility to make sure you are in good health."
"Who says?"
"Dumbledore, I don't want to do your duties tonight."
"Oh yeah," She wiped her tears and stood up. "We have to keep all the third years in the area for when they go Mega Firefly Hunting with Hagrid." Draco still hated him and still called him an oaf, so being around him wasn't going to be one of his favorite alone duties.
She walked towards him trying to get out of the bathroom. He stood there expecting her to try and kiss him. He would probably run away if she tried. "Can I get out of the bathroom?" she asked. His eyes widened as he nodded.
"Oh yeah!" He stepped away from the door and watched her walk out. He sighed. What was his problem?
Hermione was confused, why was he being so nice to her? Why was he trying to help her out? He hated her, didn't he? So many questions, so little time.
Later that night she stood outside around midnight watching all the third years trying to catch the humongous apparating fireflies. She watched Draco help his younger cousin sneak up on one, his tongue sticking out of his mouth. He then whipped the net down on the firefly. His cousin laughed and Draco smiled. He looked at Hermione, his smile disappearing and he walked away to help another kid.
She turned around and looked at the moon's reflection in the water, rippling with the wind. Hermione loved the moon; she wanted to live there and look down at the earth. It was interesting to her.
Draco snapped the net onto the firefly and then handed it over to the little girl. He looked over to see Hermione leaning on a tree, looking at the moon. Was she bored or lonely? Draco was so confused these days. It seemed that he knew nothing about girls and was labeled as the ladies man in the school. How dumb, he thought.
He walked over to her, clenching his fists in his pocket. He wanted to tap her on the shoulder as he stopped behind her, but couldn't touch her. She's fragile, he thought.
"Some fun, too bad we never got to do it." Draco walked over next to her. She looked at him and nodded. She turned her attention back to the moon. "What's wrong with you? Usually you've always got something rude to say to me at least."
"Why are you being so nice?" Hermione asked.
"I'm not…stupid mud blood." She rolled her eyes.
"Smooth move," Hermione told him. He glared at her.
"I hate you?" He said hoping she would hate him too.
"Nuh uh!" He thought harder this time, more thoughtfully. He pushed her into the water and she screamed.
"Malfoy! You sick little scum bag! I hate you!" Draco leaned on the tree and laughed. Hermione got out of the water huffing and puffing. She threw off her cloak, shoes and tights angrily and then went up to Draco to slap him. He grabbed her hand before she could though and threw her back in smiling.
"Alrigh', we've got five minutes to get back to tha school. So coun' up yer fireflies and remember how many you caught. Keep it in your mind 'til Monday and whoever caught the most gets a prize!" They counted the fireflies up and then headed back to the school.
Draco walked to the edge of the lake. Hermione sat there glaring up at him. He stuck out his hand carefully, planting his feet into the ground. She slapped her hand into his and then tried to pull him in, but he pulled her out.
"I'm smarter then you think." He said smiling.
Her feet hurt with the pine needles and twigs digging into the bottom of them. "How do you think I'm going to get back to the school? I definitely am not going to put those wet things back on." He stared at her.
"Hmm, I could carry you, but then I'd probably drop you." He said smiling. Hermione punched him in the chest.
"Malfoy, be serious. My feet kill."
"Swim to the school and then walk to the entrance. I'll carry your stupid things."
"Uh, there's a squid in that lake. I'm not going to get eaten by that stupid giant squid."
"Fine, I guess I could carry you." Hermione grabbed her stuff and he looked at her. He didn't know how to pick her up and he didn't know if he should have ever even pushed her into the water. He had so many problems.
He grabbed her by the back of the legs and the back. He knew that was the right way. She wrapped her arms around his neck and looked at him. "No, that's not where you put your hand, Malfoy." He looked at his hand and realized it was on top of her chest. His eyes widened and he instantly moved his hand.
He walked her back up to the and up to the dormitory knowing no one was looking at them. It was a long walk up to the dormitory and by the time he was up there, he looked at Granger and she was sound asleep.
He walked into her room, still holding her and set her on the bed. Her curls fell softly onto the white pillow and her face was so angelic. He hated her so much, but put her covers over her anyway so she wouldn't be cold all night…
Author's Note: Please do not think the anorexia part was rushed because it's hard to put into words and it's hard to explain in such a way that every one will understand. The event where Draco is eating obnoxiously and Hermione wants to eat the popsicle happened to one of my very best friends. She wanted to be perfect and her boyfriend ate so obnoxiously that she just had to eat. Hearing him chew the food made her go crazy so she eventually got better. So thanks for understanding that part. 3 more reviews for the next chapter!
-Steph