Close To You
By Cerulean Sapphire
Surprises
By the next day, I officially declared to myself that it was war between Weasley and me. Hah. I was certain I'd win. No sweat.
But there was a voice in my head that kept saying 'she loves him, she loves him' over and over again. To make matters worse, I knew the voice in my head was right.
Still. I wouldn't let somebody like Weasley take Hermione from me.
But up to this day I still hadn't thought of a single brilliant way to make Hermione Granger mine. It was turning out to be my losing battle.
Hah. As if. Like I said before, I'd win. It was a sure victory.
But when I entered the Great Hall, my hopes got a fall. I saw, once again, my Hermione with that prat Weasley. I swear if he place one finger of his to Hermione, I'll kill him.
Well…in my own sort of way.
So there they were, eating breakfast together. Where the heck was Potter when you need him? If he was there, then Weasley couldn't be all sweet and romantic to Hermione.
But then, when I thought of it…was Weasley really romantic? Hmm…never thought of it that way before. I always thought he never was one of those guys who had the charm. But…Hermione liked him, so maybe he did have even a wee bit of charm in him.
It was either that or Hermione Granger did not have a good taste in men.
Well, it was actually true. First, there was Viktor Krum. He was popular with girls, but come on, he wasn't even good-looking. Then, there was the rumor about Potter. You know, Rita Skeeter's article. Potter, like Krum, is all fame. Just one look at him and you'd understand what I mean.
And then the third case: Ronald Weasley.
I had to admit, even Krum and Potter were better than Weasley.
But you know, modesty aside, I, Draco Malfoy, am better than the three of them combined.
So back to the story. The two were there and were both almost finished eating their breakfast. I could tell, since when I reached the table they had already finished their meals. I just caught parts of what they had been conversing about.
"So…where will you be this afternoon?" My current worst enemy said.
"Library. I've got some things to finish."
It was a good thing I caught that part, because if I didn't, I wouldn't have one chance encounter with Hermione.
When I finished my breakfast, I returned to the Slytherin dormitory and searched for the Charms homework I still hadn't finished.
After what felt like an hour or two, I found that stupid parchment which contained my unfinished Charms homework. Flitwick gave this homework before the holidays, and since the end of the Christmas holidays was fast approaching, I needed to finish this task soon. The problem was, the answer wasn't found in the course books since it was a complicated charm, so I needed to go to the library to search for the answer. Hah, the perfect opportunity. I would be doing my work while enjoying the perfect scenery: Hermione Granger.
I took out a quill from my drawer and headed towards the Library.
The library that day was empty and there was this silence that was never there during regular schooldays. Perhaps lack of students bustling about and searching for books made it very much like a library. It was the perfect place to sleep in, except for the fact that the old books had this…unpleasant smell I never liked.
So I walked around the library a bit and after a while saw Hermione looking through a tattered book that looked like it had been there for a couple of decades (probably even centuries). She looked remarkably pretty as she intently scanned the contents of the book.
I walked over to her casually as I could. I never looked like it, but I was quite nervous as I walked towards her. She didn't look up as I was beginning to get closer and closer. She only realized that I was there when I was about two feet away.
She looked up, her brown eyes looking into my gray ones. She was absolutely stunning. I opened my mouth and desperately searched my brain for anything to say. She waited, took a deep breath, and still waited.
The only thing I managed to say had been, "Uh…Granger…"
Let me tell you, that wasn't what I had in mind. I was thinking of saying something which was nice, appropriate and Malfoy-ish as possible. What I said was something that you might hear from a complete stuttering dunderhead.
I was certainly not a dunderhead, let me tell you.
So there I was, quite speechless. The 'Uh, Granger' thing wasn't what I would call the start of a nice conversation. Ugh, how long will I stay this way? I wasn't like this before. I could tell a nice line to any girl before, but Hermione was different. I always looked stupid in front of her.
Oh, how I wanted so much not to look stupid in front of anyone…especially in front of her.
I wanted to say something more…a continuation of any sort. But before I could even get a word out of my mouth, she spoke. "You're talking to me, Malfoy?"
Her voice sounded incredulous, and her eyes were staring at me with disbelief. She looked positively cute.
"Who else is here, Granger?" I said. I tried to make my voice sound a little bit irritated, since my old self was always irritated with her.
"That's…just incredible. I never thought you could speak without so much as an insult."
I smirked a bit. "You miss my insults? Ah…it'll come, Granger, it'll come."
Sometimes I just hate myself for being so rude to her. I mean, if only she could hear my thoughts and not what my stupid mouth says, she'd find out what I feel.
"What do you need, Malfoy?" She droned. Her voice sounded bored. Was I boring?
"I'm not quite familiar with the library, Granger. I don't exactly know where the Charms section is."
Now it was her turn to smirk. She looked back at the book she had been scanning a few moments ago and replied, "If you had eyes, Malfoy, you could've seen that great sign to your right that says 'Charms Section' with an arrow underneath it."
I blushed a bit and looked sideways to my right. Sure enough, there was a humongous sign with 'Charms Section' and an arrow below. I blushed even more.
"I…didn't notice it." I said slowly. She rolled her eyes.
"Now would you please go to that section if you really want to go there and never go back here? I need some peace and quiet over here."
"If you must know, Granger," I started. "This library isn't made for your 'peace and quiet' thing. It's made for everyone, so you can't ask me to leave when I don't want to."
I stalked off to the Charms corner, relieved that I didn't say something nastier than that.
The next twenty or so minutes of my time inside the library had been spent looking for any book that had the Animating Charm in it.
After a few more minutes I still hadn't found the Animating Charm I was looking for. I was getting frustrated when I thought of one person who could help me: Hermione.
I replaced the book I had been holding to its bookshelf and went to Hermione's table. I sat on the opposite of her and crossed my arms over my chest. At first, she just ignored me. A few minutes later when she realized that I wouldn't be moving on my seat, she glared at me and said, "Exactly what do you need?"
"Animating Charm. I need to know that specific charm."
Hermione looked surprised. "So you're asking for my help. What a surprise."
"So…So, you can help me?"
She closed the book she was holding and said, "No".
"B-but, you know about it! I know you do!" I almost shouted at her. As much as I loved her, I needed to finish this homework, and I wasn't the type who'd go through book after book just to find out. Hermione was my only hope.
"Oh, come on, Malfoy. Did you even think I'd give you the answer just because I know it?"
She was beginning to be a definite Mean Queen. I never thought she was up to that kind of stuff. After all, she had been known to be goody-two shoes and all.
"I know you want to help me, Granger, so don't even stop yourself from doing so."
"I wouldn't do it even if you kill me."
Her decision was firm. Argh. What if the plea here was not about homework but about my love for her…Would I get the same response? Just the thought of 'I wouldn't love you even if you kill me' made me so frustrated.
I knew I had to concede defeat, so I went back to the Charms section and pulled out another book, hoping that it contained what I had been looking for.
After about thirty minutes, I was getting bored looking through books such as Wave away the Charms Way! Or The History of Charm-making so I decided I'd just try and find that Animating Charm the next day.
I took my quill and parchment and dragged myself towards the exit. I stopped a bit when I neared the table Hermione used. Maybe she was still there, because there was half a piece of parchment atop the table. Curious as to what it contained, I looked at the parchment and read.
The Animating Charm – refers to the charm used to make non-moving objects (book, chair, quill, etc.) move like a normal person would.
Animado - Incantation used to make inanimate things move.
Usage:
As you utter the spell, you must wave your wand clockwise, flick twice, then wave it counterclockwise twice (in rapid succession) and tap the object. This must be done in correct order.
I looked at the parchment, dumbfounded. It was the spell I was looking for. She left it for me.
The most interesting (and intriguing) part of the parchment was what had been written on the bottommost part of the parchment.
Here it is, just what you need. Hope I helped.
It was then that I knew.
I was falling deep.
Too deep.
Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. I am so happy to have finished chapter three in just one sitting! Hehehe…I am still working on Sweet Silence, so please do read it sometime. I just realized it's easier for me to write Fluff/Humor than Fluff/Angst. You need to get the "passion" and "feeling" to write angst stories, that's one of the reasons I hadn't written for so long, since almost all my stories are angst, and since Sweet Silence is one heck of an angst story (one of the longest angst stories I've written so far), I can't update soon. I'm halfway through with the second chapter, so just hang on.
Oh, and my new site, Sweet Musings is my personal site, which contains my fanfictions and other stuff about me. I update that before I update my account here. Some of my unpublished stories can be found there too. :)
Animado – Spanish for lively. The Animating Charm was just my own concoction and was not taken in any other books or stories.
Up Next: Changes—Christmas is over and school is back! Prefect duties will give Draco another chance to get close to Hermione. Will he succeed…or fail?
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