Chapter 4- Why He Hates The Secret So

Why he hates the secret so…

"It seemed so real, it just…it didn't seam right…" mumbled Hermione. This made no sense to Ron whatsoever.

"What's not right Hermione? Has this got to do with Malfoy?" he asked. Hermione looked at Ron, and cried out one last sob.

"Of course…"

Ron's eyes looked concerned, and he bent down so he was eye-level with Hermione.

"Please, Hermione, what did he say to you?" asked Ron.

This is what's going through Ron's head, right now:

He always hated seeing Hermione upset, no matter what kind of upset, whether it was sad, or scared, or even angry. This was because he loved her.

No, not like a sister. He loved her.

He had wanted to kill Malfoy for this reason. He always seemed to upset her in some way, whether it was calling her ugly, or making fun of him and Harry, or calling her a mudblood.

He knew that Hermione would be happier with Malfoy gone, just somehow, gone.

He was going to kill Malfoy at this moment; he wanted to run to his scrawny little thing of a body and kill him, right now, but he knew that this would upset Hermione further, and he would rather die than do that.

That was what was going through Ron's head.

"No, Ron," mumbled Hermione, still sobbing. "It's silly, and it's unimportant. I don't want you getting in trouble," said Hermione.

"Hermione, I don't care. Tell me, what did Malfoy say?" asked Ron again.

"He just-" began Hermione. Hermione had no idea what to say. She couldn't tell Ron that he called her a mudblood, because he would murder him. She couldn't tell him everything and that he called her a mudblood, because Ron would kill him and hate Hermione forever.

"Ron, he called me a mudblood, but I'm not really hurt by it," started Hermione. Ron threw an angry glare at Draco, and began to get angry.

"That bastard! I'm so sick of him Hermione, this is it…" started Ron.

"Ron! Calm down! I seriously don't mind, I'm just-"

"Hermione, stop pretending! I know that bugs you, and I'm sick of-"

"Ron! I don't care, okay! If you care about me, you won't go getting in trouble!" yelled Hermione.

Ron thought about this for a moment and decided to listen to Hermione. He just grabbed her in a hug, and mumbled, "All right Hermione, it's just, I dunno, it irks my nerves when he says stuff like that. I'm sorry I over-reacted."

That damn Weasley bloke is hugging my girlfriend! thought Malfoy angrily. He threw and angry glance at Harry, who looked at him oddly.

"What are you looking at, Malfoy?" asked Harry as he kicked the snow a little bit.

Malfoy's mind was racing, and it just blurted out of him. "Does Weasley fancy Granger?"

Harry looked somewhat taken aback, but answered as if it had always been obvious.

"Yeah, why do you care?" asked Harry. Malfoy began to get angry, but he couldn't show it. For all he knew, Weasley could be sweeping Hermione off of her feet and promising her a love that she had never been given before, if that existed.

Draco chose to chuckle and say, "Oh, I dunno, I just thought how ugly their kids would be."

Harry glared loathingly at Malfoy, and then curiously at Ron and Hermione. A grin spread across his face as he watched Ron hold her. "Perfect…" whispered Harry.

Harry looked by the grand entrance, and spotted a thin, brunette by with streaks of red and hazel eyes. Ah… thought Harry. Sam…

"Well, Malfoy, if you'll excuse me, I've got a girlfriend to meet. I hope you have fun getting rid of that black eye this evening," said Harry cheerfully.

Harry ran off toward Sam, and Draco was left with his two idiot cronies to watch his girlfriend hug another guy.

"Oh, thank you, Ron. You always seem to make me happy these days…" said Hermione quietly.

"No trouble Hermione," said Ron as he reluctantly began to let her go. "That's what friends are for, right?"

Hermione giggled at this and said, "Ron, I must say, that's really cheesy."

Ron chuckled and looked at the girl he secretly loved. "Yeah, I know…"

Hermione looked at Ron. There was certainly something different about him, a different kind of, air I suppose you could call it. Not that Hermione was seriously attracted to him or anything, but Ron had grown from an immature, shallow boy, to a normal guy, possibly a man!

That thought made Hermione shudder, and she pretended it never occurred to her.

Good… thought Draco as his eyes followed Hermione. That Weasley bloke's got his hands off of Hermione..

Draco stood up more straightly and resumed his usual poise. Crabbe and Goyle looked at him oddly as if he had been making a strange face.

"What are you two standing around for? Go on! Go away!" screeched Draco. His two frightened cronies looked at him again, but this time, with fear, and ran away as fast as they could, which wasn't very fast.

Now… thought Draco. There must be a way to figure out how to apologize to Hermione without Weasley seeing. I've got to get her away from him!

"Oh no…" said Ron looking down at his watch. "I'm late for detention with Snape. I've got to go-"

"You've gotten detention? How?" asked Hermione.

"Oh, I was trying to curse the bathroom by the dungeons so that whenever a Slytherin needed to do their business, they would just leave with bladders that were twice as full as they were when they entered…"

"And you got caught?" asked Hermione giggling.

"Well, yeah. I did," said Ron. Hermione bid him farewell, and watched him run toward the castle, and let out a large sigh of relief. Ah, I've done it again.

Malfoy spotted Ron leave Hermione by herself, and he watched as Hermione wondered aimlessly around. She didn't look as if she had just fallen in love; she didn't look too angry; she seemed, actually, expressionless.

Draco saw this as his chance. He took out a piece of paper and wrote,

Dear Hermione,
I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it. I swear. You know I love you, and I want to talk to you. Soon. Go to the Room of Requirement tonight at eight o'clock. It'll be quiet, and nobody will know we're there. We'll be able to talk for as long as we want! Use your badge, it'll make things easier if you get caught.
Love,
Draco

Draco read over the note, folded it, and started to walk briskly toward Hermione.

Hermione felt slightly better. She had herself convinced that Draco didn't mean it, and she knew so when she saw him walk toward her. She imagined what he was going to do in the few seconds that she watched him walk. She imagined him walking over and hugging her, and saying how sorry he was, right there, that moment.

But that didn't happen.

He walked past her, and seemingly did nothing. Hermione felt perplexed, and looked at him disbelievingly. What now? What was Hermione to do? Watch Draco walk away?

As she continued to watch, Draco turned his head and spotted that Hermione hadn't picked up the note. He walked over, slightly frustrated, and put on his usual scowl. He walked over to Hermione and put himself a mere inch from her.

"Read the note, Granger," demanded Draco. Hermione stared at him for a moment, confused. Draco nodded his head toward the ground, and there laid the note he had just written a minute ago.

Hermione did as Draco told her to do in the note, and was relived to read that he was sorry and that he didn't mean it. She began to grin as she walked down the corridor to enter the room that she had known so well from what felt like forever ago.

She reached the door, which already seemed to have been open, and she knew what lay ahead of her.

She reached for the doorknob with a slight tingling sensation in her fingers. What was there ahead of her exactly? All she knew was that Draco was in that room, and that they would be alone together with out a problem, for the first time.
The two had always been too gullible to use the Room of Requirement before, and Hermione wasn't even sure if Draco knew where it was at the time.

She turned the doorknob and the door swung open.

Draco was sitting on a large, black, plushy couch in the dark, watching a crackling fire. Hermione felt that the setting actually seamed relatively romantic, and entered the room.

Draco's head shot up when Hermione opened the door. The first thing he did was stand up and walk over to her, forgetting everything: what happened today, how Hermione punched him (leaving him with a large bump on his face) , and even how she had her arms around Ron Weasley.

He placed his hand on her face and caressed her cheek. "My heart lifts every time I see you, Hermione," said Draco.

"Me too love, me too…" sighed Hermione.

Draco moved his hand down from her cheek to her neck, and pulled her toward him. He kissed her with every bit of passion he could muster, and she responded with the same feeling.

"Oh, Hermione, you scared me…" said Draco. Hermione looked at Draco oddly.

"I scared you? You were the one who called me a mudblood! You scared the hell out of me! I thought you actually meant it!" cried Hermione.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry; it's just, when you were hugging Weasley, it's just, I know that..." Draco began, but he stopped himself. He wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to tell Hermione or not that Weasley fancied her…that might make things even more complicated. He chose to keep his mouth shut.

"I got scared is all…" said Draco definitely.

"Scared? Scared of what? That Ron would swoop me off of my feet or something?" asked Hermione skeptically.

"Yes, Hermione. That's exactly what I was afraid of!" exclaimed Draco as the flames hit his face at a strange angle, making him look as if he was a painting or something.

"That's why I hate this so much. This is why I hate keeping it a secret…" began Draco. "Because I know that there's that little chance that your mind will change on me, that small chance that we'll never be happy, or that we might grow apart. There's always that small chance that we might begin to hate each other again."

Draco walked over to Hermione and grabbed her shoulders in his hands, bending down to her so they could be eye-level. "I don't want to lose you, Hermione," he began. "I love you too much. We have to let it out! We have to Hermione! It's the only way anyone will ever understand!"

"No Draco! That's exactly what we can't do!" yelled Hermione with a worried look on her face. "Your father will never-"

"Hermione! Don't you understand? I don't care about my father!" cried Draco. "I don't care anymore! Don't you understand? I love you too much to care about him! He killed a four year old, and he's killed more then that. Why should it matter what he thinks?"

"Because love, he's your father!" said Hermione.

"No he's not! My father's dead to me, I hate him Hermione, and I can't believe he's controlling you! He's controlling your opinion on our relationship! He's controlling you like he controlled me my whole life!" yelled Draco.

Draco's heart was racing, and he went back to the black couch, and sat down with his head in his hands. He began to sob slightly, and Hermione's heart sunk.

She ran over to him, and began to mumble, "I'm sorry love, I'm sorry…" while hugging him. She began to kiss him, and she felt as if she had fallen in love with him all over again. Her hand reached for the top button of his shirt, and they paused for a moment.

Draco looked shocked, but he kept his eyes on her, and whispered, "Are you sure?"

Hermione grinned, and looked at him lovingly. She bent down to his ear and whispered, "Yes…"