The Feast
Hermione spent the rest of the afternoon completely ignoring Blaise's advise; she searched the school high and low for Draco, but could not find him anywhere. She bit her nails apprehensively. Maybe Draco was with Pansy. The thought of actually going to Hogsmeade entered her mind, but it quickly vanished as she realized how desperate she would look going all the way to Hogsmeade to try and catch her boyfriend in the act.
Anyway, that evening Hermione entered the Great Hall in a gorgeous, light blue satin dress. She scanned the sea of students, anxiously looking for Draco. When she did not spot the flicker of blond hair, she grew disappointed. He was supposed to be here at the feast with her, so where was he?
"Hermione!" Lavender cried from the Gryffindor table. "Over here, Hermione!"
Hermione strode across the Great Hall to go and sit with the Gryffindor seventh-year girls; she did not even see Pansy slip unnoticed out of the room.
The Great Hall was full of laughter and chatter, everyone excited and starving and fervently awaiting the food to appear before them. Except for Hermione, that is. She always kept one eye on the doors of the entrance, waiting for Draco to emerge. This greatly irritated Parvati, who was not used to people not giving her their full attention while she was speaking.
Finally at six o' clock on the dot, Dumbledore stood up and got everyone's attention by tapping his class with a spoon. "Good evening, students. Before we begin this wonderful feast, I would like to wish a very happy-"
Suddenly the doors of the Great Hall slammed open with a loud bang. Draco swaggered into the room with Pansy Parkinson right behind him and Snape bringing up the rear. It looked as though Draco and Pansy had been fooling around and Snape had caught them in the act. Of course, that wasn't what happened. Draco was just returning from his detention with Snape and Pansy had snuck out only to come back in with Draco and make it look as though they had been together. All part of the plan, of course.
Snape made his way up towards the staff table while Pansy tugged at Draco's robes, trying to get him to go and sit down at the Slytherin table. Draco refused; instead, he scanned the room looking for Hermione. However, He got a bit of a shock when he saw Hermione charging towards him, looking furious.
"We need to talk." Hermione whispered in a deadly, irate voice.
"Now?" Draco asked. He glanced over Hermione's shoulder and saw Blaise grinning evilly while giving him the thumbs-up sign.
The room was abnormally quiet. Dumbledore had still not continued with his speech; he looked as though he was waiting patiently for Draco, Hermione and Pansy to take a seat.
"Go away, mudblood. No one wants to even look at you, let alone talk to you." Pansy smirked.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked, looking greatly insulted. This was odd; Pansy had just been nice to her earlier this afternoon. What brought on the change?
"You heard me." Pansy said, running her finger down Draco's large, muscular arm. "Go away."
Draco pulled away. "Holy shit, Pansy! Give it up already!"
"Were you with her all afternoon?" Hermione challenged, throwing Pansy a dirty look and completely disregarding the fact that the whole school was watching. Blaise was having a silent fit over at the Slytherin table.
"No!" Draco cried, revolted. "I was-"
"Or were you only with her yesterday during your little make-out session?" Hermione spat, angrily.
"Granger-" Draco began, trying to get a word in. However, by this time Blaise had gotten up and swaggered over to where the fight had broken out. Surprisingly, none of the teachers seemed to be stopping it. Perhaps they thought it was best for the students to get this off their chests…
"Go on, Draco." Blaise pushed, his wicked smile still in tact.
"Blaise, I-" Draco began.
"You're chicken shit, Draco!" Blaise exclaimed. "Obviously you don't have the balls. Are you scared the little mudblood is going to curse you or something?"
"I just have to talk to you, Draco!" Hermione exclaimed. "I'm not going to curse you!"
"I think you're mistaken, Hermione." Blaise said in a grandmotherly tone. "He's not scared you're going to curse him because of that. He's scared that you're going to curse him because of what he's about to tell you."
"I'm not scared!" Draco exclaimed, racking his brain for something, anything to get him out of this mess. "Granger, let's go somewhere else-" Draco made to grab her hand, but Hermione pulled away.
"If you have something to tell me, just say it." Hermione said, bluntly. Tears were fighting to come out, but she refused to let them. Crying would only make the situation ten times worse.
Draco was silent. He did not know what to do. With Blaise on one side of him, Pansy on the other and Hermione standing right in front of him, his head felt like it was slowly reaching the point of explosion.
"Okay fine, I'll tell her." Blaise said, irritably.
"Blaise, don't-" Draco warned.
"Granger, Draco hates you. In his eyes and the rest of ours, you're a worm. A mudblood. A little bitch." Blaise began.
"Now that is quite enough!" Professor McGonagall cried from up at the staff table. "Students, kindly take your seats-"
"You're just plain disgusting." Blaise ploughed on, disregarding McGonagall's orders. "Who would actually want you? Yeah, I'm sure you were great in the sac according to Draco-"
Crabbe and Goyle choked in their glasses. When they came up for air, they were laughing stupidly and thoroughly enjoying the show. Pansy looked indignant as she thought of Draco and Hermione sleeping together (not that they actually did), and Blaise was holding back his laughter until the end. That last bit was Blaise's own ingenious thinking.
"But you're still a revolting, nasty mudblood. Did you honestly think that Draco liked you for you?" Blaise asked.
The entire Slytherin table burst out in appreciative laughter and Pansy screeched her high-pitched cackle. Hermione, however, remained silent. Out of all of the events that occurred throughout the year, all of the events that she felt speechless and stunned and at a total loss for words, this one outdid them all. This just couldn't be true! Draco had feelings for her. He wouldn't do that to her! She wasn't even aware of the entire school gawking at her with their mouths dropped open, nor of the teachers, also looking shocked that a Hogwarts student could say such things.
"Do you… do you have a point?" Hermione stammered, growing red in the face.
"Of course I do, babe. Draco here is dropping you. You're finished. It was all a plot, anyway. He fucks you, plays with your head, then dumps you. Sends you packing. You're gone, sugar." Blaise said, grinning evilly. "Bye bye."
Hermione looked at Draco. Her eyes were red as she still fought with herself not to let a single tear escape, but each passing second it grew harder and harder. She hadn't even had sex with him. Was that his goal this whole time? "Tell me this isn't true." Hermione said quietly, looking directly at him. "Tell me."
Draco looked at his feet. This was the moment of truth. Go along with the plan or get disowned by all of the Slytherins. His choice.
He closed his eyes for a brief moment and then opened them, seeing Hermione clearly for the first time. She was gorgeous. Radiant. Like a supermodel. Even when she was angry, she glowed like an angel.
"Can't we just go talk in another room?" Draco asked, quietly.
Finally, a tear tricked down Hermione's face. She looked into the eyes of her boyfriend and felt used and betrayed. He really did make out with Pansy. He really did go off with her today. And worst of all, he really didn't feel anything for her. Finally, Hermione noticed the entire Great Hall gazing avidly at her. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment but her heart ached with pain. She just couldn't handle it. Before she knew it, she was running straight past Draco and out the enormous doors of the Great Hall. Slytherins began retrieving water balloons that they had obviously hidden under the table for this very moment; they chucked the water balloons at Hermione, most of them hitting her and soaking her from head to toe. She did not stop running, though. The Slytherins all burst out in laughter.
"That is three hundred points from Slytherin!" McGonagall cried, outraged. "Never have I seen such behavior at an educational institute! Never! A weeks worth of detentions for all of the Slytherins, as well! And a months worth of detention for you, Zabini! Now, everyone take your seats this instant! You're lucky none of you are expelled!"
"You really are chicken shit." Blaise spat at Draco. "What, did you actually develop feelings for the mudblood? Come on! She is a fucking bitch-"
BAM!
Draco punched Blaise around the face with so much force that he thought he might have broken Blaise's nose. When Blaise looked at him, his upper lip was bleeding and blood was trickling from his nose. Malfoy said nothing. He had just hit his best friend. He hit him! No time for worrying now, though. Draco had to find Hermione at all costs. He needed to talk to her. Turning, he left the Great Hall.
"Mr Malfoy!" McGonagall shouted, outraged. "Mr Malfoy, get back here!"
"Let him go, Minerva." Dumbledore said calmly but still looking alerted with a look of distress in his eyes. "Please fetch Madam Pomfrey for Mr Zabini. Now. We will deal with Mr Malfoy later."
So, following Dumbledore's instructions, McGonagall rushed out of the Hall to fetch Madam Pomfrey as Dumbledore calmed the school down from all of the excitement that had just gone on. Meanwhile, Draco was darting through the corridors of Hogwarts and dashing up several flights of stairs until he reached the portrait of the mermaids. For once, they were not happy to see him.
"How could you do such a thing?" The blond mermaid asked, disgusted.
"All of the portraits are disappointed in you." The redheaded mermaid informed. "Our Head Boy turning out to be a complete jerk."
"Frosted Waters!" Draco cried, too rushed to care about what the mermaids had to say.
"You should leave her alone!" The black haired mermaid warned. "You've hurt her enough for one night! Just give her a break!"
Completely ignoring the mermaid's advice, Draco scurried through the portrait hole, ran through the common room and came to a quick halt outside of Hermione's bedroom door.
BANG!
"Granger, open up!" Draco demanded, pounding desperately on the door with his fist. "Granger! You can't run forever! We need to talk! Now!"
Silence.
"Just open the damn door!" Draco yelled, beating harder on the door. He was not used to not getting what he wanted; Hermione ignoring his pleas only angered him. Perhaps she wasn't even in the room… but no, she was. Draco could hear the light sobbing of a heartbroken girl on the other side of the door. The sound of her crying softened Draco; he stopped pounding on the door and stopped yelling.
"Just… just open up, Granger. Please?" He asked, desperately.
No answer.
"Fine!" Draco cried, frustrated. "When you're ready to grow up and deal with this in a mature, adult way, then you let me know! I'll be on the couch!"
Draco angrily marched over to the couch and plopped himself on it, trying with difficulty not to scream his lungs out because of the frustration. Why wouldn't she just talk to him? Why?
Draco felt that at this rate, he would never be able to fall asleep. It didn't matter, though; he wanted to wait up all night and all day if he had to, just until Hermione would finally emerge from her bedroom. However, it was much harder then it sounded. An hour went by… then another… then another. Eventually it was ten o' clock and Draco had not moved from the spot that he was lying in. Hermione would not budge, either; she stayed locked up in her room, hiding from the world around her. Soon, Draco's eyelids began to feel heavy. The colors around him grew fuzzy as his eyes went out of focus, and soon enough he fell asleep on the violet couch, thinking only of Hermione.
An hour and a half later, Hermione was sitting cross-legged on her bed, wide-awake. She kept glancing at the mini alarm clock on her night side table. 10:30, 10:48, 11:02, 11:14, then finally 11:30. She had not heard anything from Draco for over four hours. Her tears had finally ended about an hour ago; she figured she must have run out of them. Not only had she been completely humiliated in front of the whole school, but she had been betrayed by the one person in the world who she believed she could trust. The thought just made Hermione feel sick to her stomach. How could he?
Taking a deep breath, Hermione slowly got up and tiptoed across the room. She pressed her ear to the door. No sound. Closing her eyes and collecting her composure, she turned the doorknob and opened the door. She quietly walked down the deserted corridor and peered around the corner to the common room. There was Draco, asleep on the couch. Why is he bothering? Hermione asked herself. Obviously he wants it to be over, so why try and talk to me? Well, obviously he never really wanted it to begin in the first place. It hurt so much inside; Draco told his friends that the only reason he dated her was for a few good nights of sex. But they never even did it! He just wanted to look cool. It's the only reasonable answer. Same old Draco. Hermione was stupid to believe that he actually changed.
She slowly and quietly crept back to her room. In the corner stood a large suitcase, freshly packed. She muttered a spell to make the luggage levitate, then left her bedroom once more with the suitcase floating slowly behind her. She crept as silently as possible through the common room, then exited out of the portrait hole.
Luckily, Hermione managed to steal her way through the school undetected; Filch and Mrs Norris must have either been a few floors up or in their office. She walked at a steady pace, her eyes still puffy-eyed from crying and her hands shaking from rage and agony. Finally, she stopped outside of a familiar office. The office that she had approached only weeks before trying to save Draco's butt. Memories were so painful.
Hermione tapped gently on the door three times. Soon enough, McGonagall appeared wearing a nightgown and carrying a candle; observing the paperwork spread out over her desk, Hermione assumed that she must have been working late into the night.
"Good evening, Professor McGonagall." Hermione croaked. Her voice was still crackled from the crying.
"Miss Granger!" McGonagall exclaimed, ushering Hermione and her suitcase inside. "How are-"
"I'm fine." Hermione answered bluntly. "I know it's past curfew, but I had to see you. I've decided to accept Belle Strait's invitation. I wish to leave tomorrow."