Crimson Rain Drops
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters that obviously aren't in the books
&&&&
Cold as Ice
Hard as Stone
Both believe
They must face this world alone
What happens
When Enemies Meet
All they share; a love of hate
But what they find; they do not seek
&&&&
Previously:
Draco, though reluctant, accio-ed another bottle and handed it to her. Though still curious as to why she wanted it, though at the moment, if it shut her up, he would do anything. He just wanted to finish his in peace.
Hermione opened the bottle and downed quite a bit of it. She crossed the room and sat on the other green couch. She looked around for the first time. There was a green and a red couch on each side of the room and two black arm chairs in front of the fire place. There were four doors. The one leading out, one with Hermione's name on it, one with Draco's name on it and one that led to the bathroom.
The walls were simple. Just the four house colours, though Hermione really wished that it was just Slytherins colours. They were darker than Gryffindors and they would be much easier on the eyes in the event of a hang-over.
Roughly two hours later, the two were still sitting in silence, both bottles lying on the floor, completely empty. Both could hold their liquor amazingly well, but they'd both been drinking a lot longer then the other would ever have guessed.
Around 2, Hermione got up and wandered to her room, collapsing on her bed. She made a quick mental note to change her room colours the next day, then passed out, this time though, it wasn't from pain. A nice change, it you asked him.
&&&&
Hermione rolled out of bed exactly 20 minutes before her first class, with a head ache like none other. She groaned, it hurt to move, it hurt to touch, it hurt think. God, it just hurt.
Somehow she found her way in and out of the shower, and dressed in under ten minutes. How this happened, she was never able to recall, but she just filed it away under pure luck.
Draco walked out of his room to find Hermione sprawled out on the couch, head tilted back, eyes closed. (A/n: okay, so I use this a lot in this story. Deal with it) She glanced up to see who was there but groaned when the light met her eyes.
"God, who made this room so god damn bright?" she muttered.
Draco had to agree, it was god awful in here and it wasn't good for a hang-over.
"A little sick this morning Granger?" an eyebrow raised, an annoying habit that he couldn't break for the life of him.
"Go the fuck away Malfoy" she managed to grumble.
"You do know that we have Potions in 7 minutes right?" Draco questioned, not knowing why he was letting her know.
"Oh shit" she muttered, getting up and grabbing her bag. She turned before walking out, muttering something that sounded like a "thanks"
Hermione reached the class just in time, and thought she was going to die when Snape came in yelling. She cursed, wishing she could remember how to get rid of a hang-over. It had just been so long since she had had to use it.
Malfoy walked in, 20 minutes late and all he got was a look, nothing more. No detention nothing. This got Harry and Ron started and 30 points deducted from Gryffindor along with a detention.
Hermione put her head on her desk, just wanting class to end. Something as small as someone breathing was multiplying her head-ache.
"Miss Granger!" Snape snapped
"What?" Hermione snapped back, annoyed to be taken away from her semi-quiet world.
Snape looked taken aback, didn't even bother taking points. Just repeated the question, and she spouted off some answer, though if you asked her two minutes later she couldn't tell you what she was asked or how she answered.
She groaned, and put her head back on the desk.
"Hermione, you okay?" Harry whispered, though she could've sworn that he was yelling. She had never had a hang-over quite this bad. What the hell was actually in those bottles?
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just go back to your work before Snape catches you talking" she muttered.
Harry complied, though he and Ron kept shooting her worried looks. She did the potion perfectly, and finally the awful class ended. The day continued just like this. Most of the teachers just went over what they would be doing during the year. After what seemed like days, classes ended.
She fed Ron and Harry some lame excuse and headed straight for her dorm, collapsing in one of the chairs in front of the fire. She starred at that fire, and finally the head-ache started to subside.
The flames danced before her eyes, almost like they were performing some kind of ritual, with no particular order to their movements. They brought her peace of mind, something that she had forgotten she could feel.
She never heard anyone enter. Draco stood, watching the girl in front him. She was the first person he had found in ages that he couldn't tell what they were always thinking. He had never really noticed this. The last time that he had paid enough attention to her to notice, had been around third year.
He had focused on Potter and Weasley more since then. Always making sure to bug them, as he was able to get them riled up more. But he couldn't read her anymore, in any way.
She really bothered him. Never before had he wanted to know what went through someone's mind as much as he did now. He hated her with a passion, yet he found that he couldn't take his eyes off her.
"How long are you going to stand there like that Malfoy? I mean, I know that I'm fascinating, but please, take a picture, they really do last longer" Hermione didn't even bother looking up from the fire. She had felt his gaze on her for awhile now. She wasn't sure when he had walked in, and she really didn't care, she just wanted him to leave.
Though she would never admit it, it unnerved her to have him watching her so intently. She didn't like having someone doing that. She felt like that if she ever met his eyes, he could unlock things that had been hidden from the world for a reason.
"Really Granger, you are paranoid aren't you? Who ever said I was starring at you?" he questioned, trying to figure out how she knew that he was there.
Hermione looked up at him and simply shook her head before turning back to the fire. "Malfoy, do me a favour and fuck off. I was perfectly peaceful here before you entered. And no I'm not paranoid."
Draco stood shocked for a second. He remembered that she had spoken to him like this before, but never thought that she would carry on with it. Apparently, she had a back bone. Wouldn't know it, the way that she hides behind Potter and Weasley
"What the hell happened to you this summer?" the words out before he even knew what he was doing.
Hermione's head snapped up. "Mind your own damn business Malfoy"
Draco shrugged, as if nothing had fazed him. "No one, and I mean no one, tells me what to do Mudblood"
"Malfoy, keep out of my business and I'll keep out of yours. Understood?" she again turned away from him.
"I told you, no one tells me what to do. I'll figure out what happened to you Granger, I guarantee it"
"Fine then, I want to know what happened to you this summer"
"Mind your own business Granger"
Hermione smirked and raised an eyebrow, though still starred at the dancing flames. "Amazing how roles suddenly reversed themselves isn't it Malfoy?"
Draco scowled at her, before walking over to his room and slamming the door shut.
"Fuck you too Malfoy" Hermione muttered
Why is she bugging me so much? I've never given a shit about her and then I see a few scars and changes in Gryffindors most untouchable girl and I have to know everything. You have to admit, it's bugging you. There's something about her that intrigues you. Fuck you, I couldn't careless for the Mudblood. Whatever.
Suddenly Draco heard his name being called. "Malfoy, visitors"
Draco walked out to see that Hermione was still watching the fire, but chatting with the Laurthians and Dallis Cade, another fellow Slytherin.
"Malfoy" Luke nodded his head in acknowledgement that he had entered the room.
"Laurthian, Cade, Eva" he causally greeted.
"Hey Malfoy, I heard that you've been harassing my best friend here" Eva said, nodding to Hermione.
"Oh really" he turned to Granger. "Pray tell, what have I done today?"
Hermione just shook her head, not feeling like responding. She got up out of the chair and laid down on the couch beside Luke.
"Hey, Mia, something wrong?" Luke asked, motioning for her to move into his area.
"I'm fine" she answered, her voice monotone. She moved her head into Luke's lap and he put a hand on her shoulder, comforting his friend.
Draco raised an eyebrow at this. "Since when are you two going out?" he questioned, taking a spot on the other side of the room.
"Go to hell Malfoy. Ever heard of best friends?" Hermione asked.
"Replacing the wonder team then?"
"You could say that" Hermione shrugged.
They all started talking, like they had been friends forever. The only people that avoided conversation with each other were (obviously) Hermione and Draco. They avoided eye contact and gave short answers whenever asked a question that required an answer from one.
Hermione had gotten used to being around Dallis a long time ago; it was part of being friends with Luke and Eva. He was one of Luke's good friends and Eva's boyfriend.
She happened to like Dallis actually, he was like all other Slytherins, but he still gave her the benefit of the doubt and you could see them all in a group quite often, if you knew the right places to look.
Harry and Ron were so thick-headed that they never realized that they were slowly being replaced. Hermione didn't have the heart to tell them either. She knew that, though she really wanted to keep it, her friendship with Harry and Ron was dwindling to an end.
She avoided hanging out with them when she could, and only stayed with them for short periods of time when it couldn't be avoided. She had made a promise to herself that she would never end their friendship, but it was getting to the point where she didn't think that she would ever have a choice.
"Hey Mia, what's bothering you?"
"Nothing, just thinking"
"'bout what?" Eva was truly worried about Hermione. Her friend was becoming increasingly quieter and it just wasn't like her. She almost never raised her hand anymore to answer any questions and never did anything extra credit. She still spoke her mind, always had done that, but now it was only when absolutely necessary.
"Just stuff. Like how I'm going to tell Harry and Ron that it's over. I can't handle being around them any more. They don't know anything about me anymore" she carried on awhile before noticing that the boys had gone quiet and were starring at her.
"What?" she snapped.
"Mia you have to tell them. They need to know that you feel that way. And if it's bothering you this much then you really have no choice but to tell them" Luke commented
"I know, I know. But do you have any idea what it's like to tell your best friends of six years that it's over? I mean, its one of those situation where it sounds easier then it actually is"
Draco remained silent during the whole conversation, never taking his eyes off the girl laying on the couch across from him. He would never have listened this intently before, but it was like she had forgotten that he was sitting there.
Finally he snapped out of it when Dallis called to him. "Hey Malfoy, do you have your stash this year?"
"Of course, why?"
"I think that we could all use some right about now"
"Agreed. Who wants it?"
"Just bring it for all but Mia, she doesn't drink" Luke said. Draco just raised an eyebrow at him.
"Malfoy, bring some for five. I could use it tonight" Hermione said.
Dallis, Eva and Luke starred at her in shock. "What? I changed a little over the summer, deal with it" They shrugged and Dallis got up to help Draco bring it out.
He pulled out 5 bottles and handed three to Dallis to take out while he concealed his hiding spot again.
He came out and handed the last bottle to Eva, who had moved to Dallis's feet, her back propped up with his legs. They all opened they're bottles and took a drink, Hermione and Draco's considerably larger then the others.
They talked for hours, not realizing it. Finally, Dallis, Luke and Eva left, leaving Hermione and Draco on their own again. Only their bottles were finished, the other three had given what was left back to Draco, who would put it away for the next time they came.
"Malfoy, I hate to ask, but do you know any hang-over cures?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do Granger, why do you want to know?"
"Because I honestly don't think I can deal with a head-ache the size of the one I had today. I mean, I've had them before, but never to that degree"
"I know what you mean. I had a killer one the first time I had this stuff too. But I'll show you the spell in the morning, alright?"
"Yeah, ok. Thanks"
They carried on a pretty civilized conversation until around 4, when Hermione finally dozed off on the couch. Draco, not wishing to know what she would be like if he woke her up, accio-ed a blanket and put it over her.
He then cleaned the bottles up and crawled under his forest green comforter. It amazed him that they had carried on a conversation like that, though h knew that it had something to do with all the alcohol in their systems. It would never last to the morning, or to later that morning anyway.
He still loathed her, always would. But somewhere, deep in the depths of his seemingly stone heart, he cared for her on some level, however miniscule that level may be.
The last thing that ran through his mind before falling into a deep slumber was Thank god tomorrow's Saturday.
&&&&&
Okay, so the drinking's becoming regular, but o well, it works right? I promise, changes coming into play soon. I'll try and get at least one more chapter out before the end of break, but that depends on whether or not I get hit with an idea for Giving Up Isn't An Option (Part three of a three part series). If I don't get one out, I will one January 10 or 11. Hope you enjoyed, thanks to reviewers and my beta. Reviews appreciated
Also, Email updates are available. If you want them then just leave your email in your review.
Pure Mudblood
(Edited on August 23 2005)