Acceptance
That was where Draco found her the next morning. Emerging from his room, he nearly tripped over something and looked down to see a pair of legs blocking his way.
"Hmm; didn't really think she was going to stay here," Draco said.
"Maybe you should have been more forceful," the portrait said.
"Next time." Draco bent down and placed Hermione on his shoulder. Then he turned around and walked back into his bedroom. Placing her on the bed, he began to unlace her shoes and threw them on the floor. Then he moved her underneath the sheets. Hermione slightly stirred and pulled them up closer to her head. Draco decided against staying to watch her, and stood up. Closing the portrait door shut, he walked down the staircase and decided to go to brunch.
Hermione awoke about a half-hour after Draco had left.
Green sheets? Where the hell am I? She bolted up and looked at the clock. 12:40. Brunch would be over in twenty minutes. Hermione threw off the covers and stood, then took two steps before she nearly tripped over something hard and large. On the floor were those stupid shoes she'd worn the night before. I definitely didn't take these off. As a matter of fact, why am I even in Draco's room?
She picked up the shoes and, bewildered, left as quickly as she could. Hermione practically ran to her room and into the bathroom for a shower.
When she finally entered the Great Hall all but a few people remained. But Ginny was still there. She slid over when Hermione sat down.
"Well?" Ginny asked.
"Well what?" Hermione retorted.
"What happened?"
"It's even worse now." Ginny raised an eyebrow. "So I wanted Harry and Ron to calm down and I told them I hadn't meant to be kissing Draco. Only Draco heard that and everything I said afterwards, when I was insulting him."
"Let me get this straight. You lied to Harry and Ron and somehow Draco managed to find out."
"I assume he's not talking to me now. I tried to explain, but he wouldn't listen."
"Uh huh…he stared at your usual spot while he was eating."
"So he was here?" Hermione put down her glass of cranberry juice. "Do you know where he went?"
"What do I look like to you?"
"I've got to go find him." Hermione stood.
"Take your toast with you."
"Whatever." Hermione picked up a slice of toast and left the Hall just as quickly as she'd come and decided to head for the library. She searched everywhere inside and there was no sign of Draco there.
By the time dinner rolled around, Hermione had searched every inch of the castle. She'd even gotten up the nerve to enter the Slytherin common room. Her excuse was that she needed the Head Boy for some Head business. A few of the Slytherins hissed as she spoke. One of them suggested he was off shagging in another dorm.
"I can't believe I haven't seen him all day. I searched everywhere," Hermione said as she played with her chicken.
"I'm sure he'll show up at dinner. Look, there he is," Ginny observed as Draco made his way over to the Slytherin table.
Draco forced himself not to look in Hermione's direction as he ate. Hermione, however, continued to gaze at him throughout the meal.
"Hey Hermione, stop staring. You're getting almost as bad as he is," Ginny said.
"Yeah yeah…you're right." Hermione looked glumly down at her food.
"Why don't you just catch him when he leaves?"
"I doubt he'll talk to me now. You should've seen him."
"Was he that angry?"
"That's the thing. He didn't sound angry at all. Not even when he called me mudblood."
"What!" Ginny put down her glass.
"Yeah, mudblood."
"Well, you know he didn't really mean that."
"Maybe not. But he definitely meant that he didn't want to talk to me."
"I doubt that."
"Yeah, well I don't." Hermione looked up. Draco was gone. "I've got to go, Ginny."
"Uh huh. Good luck. Just make him listen and you're set."
Hermione sped off to her dorm, hoping that Draco had actually headed there like she hoped.
When she entered, she went straight to his staircase and mounted the stairs. She raised her hand to knock on the door when a particularly loud moan came from inside his room.
Oh gods, not another girl. The moans steadily increased in frequency and volume until Hermione couldn't listen to any more. She rushed down the stairs and over to her own staircase.
Hermione stood at the foot of her bed for a full minute before she could even sit down on it and think. When she finally sat she could barely organize her thoughts, so she just lay there trying to figure out what to do next. Finally, she decided to change into a robe and her favorite fluffy slippers and then went down to the common room.
She approached the bookshelf and reached for the book of poems she still hadn't finished reading and settled onto a couch. She stared at the pages and tried to read, but none of it was sinking in. Finally she gave up.
What am I even doing out here? she asked herself.
Waiting for Draco to appear, her conscience answered.
"And why?" Hermione asked out loud. "So he can just insult me again?"
You know he doesn't really mean it.
"Yes he does. He doesn't even want to see my face anymore." A tear escaped her eye and she wiped it away. "I'm so stupid," she whispered to herself. More tears began slipping from her eyes, and try as she might to get rid of them, they only continued to fall.
"The facts would beg to differ. If you were really stupid, you wouldn't be Head Girl." Draco stood at the foot of his staircase and stared off into the fire.
"That was a fluke," Hermione said. She turned around at the sound of his voice and noted that he was completely dressed.
Draco noticed that her eyes were teary. "What's the problem, He—Granger?" he asked.
"Nothing."
"Yet another untrue statement from the lips of Hermione. Granger," he added.
"Why do you care, anyway?"
"I never said I cared."
Hermione looked up at him through blurry eyes. "You know, maybe what I said wasn't completely off the mark."
"I thought it was a lie."
"Well, I didn't believe it when I said it, but now I'm starting to reconsider." Hermione continued looking at him and wiped away the last of her tears, then rose. "You've pretty much got the cruel part down. And the cold-heartedness."
"Of course I do, because I really am an evil bastard."
"I thought you said you weren't."
"Sarcasm, Granger—I'm not. But you think I am."
"No I—"
"You obviously do."
"What are you talking about, you liar? You are! You're not different at all! And you think I'm stupid enough to think you've changed. For the gods' sakes, you're still having sex with everyone all the time!"
Damn it, how did she know? I swear these shags are more trouble than they're worth. Draco said nothing as these thoughts ran through his head.
Hermione was now at the foot of her staircase. She began to climb it, then looked back as if she changed her mind. She turned around and came back down the stairs.
"I don't even know why I noticed," Hermione said, "although it's quite hard to pretend that there aren't girls screaming from behind your door every time I come into the dorm."
"Ah yes. You forgot to acknowledge that I'm also a shameless sex god."
"Do you really want that to be true?"
"It is true."
Hermione held his gaze for a few moments, then turned away. "You really disgust me. I try to apologize and you spew all this crap at me." Hermione turned around and began to climbing her staircase.
"If that's what you call an apology, then your thinking is seriously warped."
"Whatever, you disgusting sex fiend!" The portrait door slammed shut seconds after Hermione left the room.
Ok, so maybe all the yelling at her wasn't necessary, but it wasn't welcome on her part either. To think, she had called him a sex fiend—again—when she couldn't even stop herself from jumping on him every time he asked her to. More importantly she still hadn't accepted the fact that he was a different person. Of course, it was because she was just too stubborn to admit her faults, and it was intensely irritating. Draco was in serious need of a way to release all this frustration she had caused. And usually he would with one of those many girls who were always following him around, but not tonight—once again, Hermione had ruined his taste for it.