Secrets

Chapter Sixteen: Déjà Vu

(Disclaimer: I won no HP titles- they all belong to J.K. Rowling…)

I avoided Draco and Ron for the next few hours- if Harry were to get suspicious, everything would go haywire, and I'd be in deep trouble. As I headed off to my detention with Snape, I felt someone touch my left arm. When looked to see the source, I found no one or nothing there. This puzzled me, and led me into an even deeper state of confusion when a random vision of Ginny passed through my head. What was wrong with me?

That day we had had our exams for our mid-term. I felt like I had been up for a week in a row without any sleep at all. All of our tests were long and hard- but my studying paid off. Those endless hours in the library, locking the outside world out for a few hours- it was all worth it. But now, I had my detention, and I really wasn't up to being torture by Snape right now. But, sadly, I didn't have a choice in the matter…

I opened the door to find Snape packing up a suitcase, stuffing papers and bottles inside hurriedly. He stopped abruptly when he saw me enter. His face flushed- his looked very tired. "Granger," Snape began, out of breath. "For private reasons, I am unable to host your detention tonight so-" He stepped aside and I could help but gasp to see Draco standing behind him. "Draco, here, is going to do the honors." He closed his suitcase and whispered something to Draco, who smirked and nodded. "I trust to you behave yourself, Granger." Snape said coldly before hurrying out the door, slamming it closed behind him.

"Draco, how in the world did you end up down here?" I asked, setting my stuff down. "There's a Quidditch match going on! I had to ditch Harry and Ron for this stupid detention to find out Snape won't even be here!"

He started to walk over to me, but I stepped away quickly, blushing. "Hermione, what's wrong?" Draco got so close to touching my waist that when I backed away I tripped over a chair and went toppling to the ground.

"Draco, I can't…" I said, getting up and avoiding his eyes. "Harry gave me this potion-"

"You willingly drank a potion that Potter gave you?"

"Not willingly… I couldn't just not drink it…" I explained my situation.

"Yes you could've, 'Mione…"

"But, love, there's nothing we can do now." I said with a sigh. "We can make it three days without touching each other, right?"

"I sure hope so… You know this is your fault right?" Draco said, smirking and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but talk about being supportive, God…" Draco let out a handsome laugh. "So, this is déjà vu, isn't it?"

"Yup," I smiled. "This is how we 'met.'"

There was an odd silence lingering between us, accompanied by the yearning to hold one another. I had missed Draco last night, and I'll miss him for three whole days… it's horrible!

As if reading my thoughts, Draco spoke up. "This sucks."

"I agree."

"You have the oddest choices of friends…" He looked me in the eyes, a kind look on his face. "I am starting to like Ron, though… He's kinda growing on me… It's all your fault, Hermione, now I'm going soft…" I smirked.

"It's not my fault Ron is such a likeable guy!" I smiled graciously.

"It is your fault, though, that Potter has an obsessive crush on you." Draco leaned on a table. "He allows you no privacy! You shouldn't be weighed down by him like that- he's controlling you."

I let out a sigh. He was right. "I know… but what do I do about it?"

"I could take care of him."

"No, Draco, that's okay. I'm trying to make violence a last resort." I thought for a moment, and then a thought came to mind. "What about Hagrid?"

"Hagrid? The half-giant? The one whose hippogriff attacked me in-"

"Yes Draco, that Hagrid."

"What about him?"

"Well, he's friends with Harry, and maybe I could get him to talk to him." I was hopeful…

"But can Hagrid be trusted? What if he goes and talks to Dumbledore?"

"Should I go to Dumbledore, then?" I began rubbing my temples, willing my muse to give me an idea.

"I don't know…"

"Well, thanks for that…" I replied sarcastically.

"Hey, I don't know everything, you know. I'm not you."

"Oh, so I know everything?"

"More than I do."

I let out an irritated sigh and lay down on the top of a table closing my eyes. I heard cheers coming from the Quidditch game outside and regretfully wished I could be out there, instead of being stuck inside serving detention with my boyfriend when I can't even touch him.

"You can go now, Hermione."

I sat up. "Really?"

He nodded grimly. "If you want to. I know that this can't be much fun for you."

I gathered my things, and before leaving I walked up to him and got as close as I dare to go. "I love you, Draco Malfoy, and even if we can't touch, nothing will change my feelings."

He smirked. "You took the words right out of my mouth."

XxX

I went up to the Quidditch game after dropping my things off and sped up so I could watch the game. (Though I know nothing about Quidditch, it's my favorite sport, and I love watching it.) I hurried up to the Gryffindor stands and watched all of the players –including Harry and Ron- speed around on their brooms. Gryffindor was playing Ravenclaw, so it was pretty evenly matched when it came to seekers. The new seeker for Ravenclaw, Justin Holmes, I had had a crush on in fifth year, and was very talented at playing his position. I watched Harry chase around the Snitch, Justin right at his tail. As Harry reached out to grab it, he lost his balance and went toppling off of his broomstick, falling like a bag of rock towards the ground. All of the players rushed towards him, trying to grab a hold of him, but they only hurt themselves, running into one another all at once. Harry hit the ground with a smash and the stadium went as quiet as the grave. I ran out of the Gryffindor stands and bolted out onto the field, ignoring all of the teacher's protests. Even though I might say I hated him right now, he was still a friend and deserved my company- just barely.

"Harry!" I said, finally reaching him as a stretcher hovered over to him. He was covered in scratches and developing bruises, and the top of his head was trickling down blood. His Quidditch robes were torn a little, blood starting to seep through.

"Miss Granger," McGonagall said, walking up from behind. "Five points from Gryffindor for ignoring a teacher's commands." Her gaze softened. "Please accompany Harry to the hospital wing immediately." I nodded and floated up Harry as McGonagall asked.

XxX

About two hours later I snapped my book shut and ran over to Harry, who had started to stir. I threw a jellybean form my pocket at Ron, who was asleep and beckoned him over here.

"Is he waking up?" Ron asked, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"I'm not sure…"

Harry turned over and began snoring very loudly. I let out an irritated sigh. "That's the third time he's done that…"

Ron grabbed my arm and pulled me over, away from Harry's bed. I snatched my arm away quickly and glanced nervously over at Harry.

"What's wrong, 'Mione?"

"Did Harry mention anything to you about a potion?" I asked, knowing that I could totally trust Ron.

He let out a groan. "He didn't give you that touching potion, did he?"

I nodded grimly.

"God dang it! I told him not to!" He looked sympathetically at me. "I'm so sorry, 'Mione…"

"It's not your fault, Ron…" I felt tears coming on. "But why is he being like this? He was never like this before! I loved him before he went all… psycho…" I felt a few tears escape my eyes. At that moment, I didn't care if Harry woke up and beat me to a pulp- I needed a hug more than anything. I shoved myself into Ron's arms and sobbed as quietly as I could.

"Hermione-"

"I don't care. Let him get mad." Ron wrapped his arms around me and whispered kind and soothing words to me. I felt my tears starting to leak into Ron's robes and stain it. I pulled back, wiping away my tears. "I love you, Ron." I whispered.

"I love you, too, 'Mione." He wiped a tear away. "Everything will be fine, I promise."

By then Harry had woken up and was staring at me. I could tell he wasn't happy about Ron and I, but I quickly explained that I was just worried about him getting better, and couldn't control myself.

XxX

That night I wandered up to the Astronomy Tower again, really needing to talk to Draco. I opened the door and walked over to the full-length window, looking out over the view of the Hogwarts grounds. It was a full moon tonight. I couldn't look at the moon and not think of Remus Lupin- a very good friend of Harry, Ron and I, also a werewolf. But the fact that he was a werewolf didn't change anything between the four of us. Over the summer, Sirius' death had only brought us closer together- specifically Harry. It had been hard for all of us, though, but probably for Remus. He lost the last friend he could trust. It must've been horrible…

"Hermione," I heard a voice whisper in my ear. My reminiscing thoughts dissolved into nothing as the person behind me whispered into my ear. "Miss me? Sorry I was late…"

"It's okay…" I let out a sigh. "How did exams go?"

"Better than I thought they would."

Lucky… I thought. I looked up at the moon and began thinking again- of Remus and Harry and Sirius.

"Hermione?" Once again, my precious thoughts were shattered.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay? You seem sort of distant today…" I looked at him, my eyes involuntarily flowing down to his lips. Oh, how I longed for their taste…

"I'm fine… just thinking." I returned my gaze to his eyes, and could help myself- I pushed myself onto him and kissed him with everything in me.

"Her-Hermione…" He said, pulling back after a minute. "Harry's gonna be pissed…"

"I know, and I don't care." I said, bringing up my courage. "I'm not going to let him separate us any longer." I again pushed my lips onto his, this time getting a little bit more of a reaction. I parted my lips, and his tongue darted inside, eager to explore. After a few minutes, I pulled away and looked at the floor. "I shouldn't have done that… Harry's going to come up here looking for me… I'm trouble, Draco!"