Chapter Sixteen
Harry, Ron and Blaise were all sitting in the Head Common room waiting for their long lost friends to arrive. Professor McGonagall had told them of the good news, and they were all feeling very giddy and excited to finally see their friends again.
"Do you reckon they've changed much?" asked Ron thoughtfully.
"I hope not…what if they're like all friendly towards each other now? You know you cant spend a month together with a person and not be civil to each other." Blaise answered slowly.
"Oh god. You don't think that Malfoy and Hermione are actually friends now do you!" Harry spluttered.
"I don't see why not. I mean we are kind of friends now aren't we Potter?" Blaise pointed out with a small grin.
"Yeah well we were forced to become friends weren't we Zabini?" Harry retorted playfully.
It was true, the loss of their close friends had resulted in an unlikely friendship between Blaise Zabini and Ron and Harry. But truthfully, none of them regretted it because they had found that once they sorted out their differences (there weren't too many…Blaise didn't hate them nearly as much as Malfoy did) they actually had a lot in common - namely Quidditch and wizard's chess.
"Oh cmon Harry, give the poor bloke a break. He's really not too bad." Ron quipped with a chuckle.
"You're giving me way too much credit. I am still a Slytherin after all." Blaise said airily.
"Yeah true. But at least you're not as bad as Malfoy." Ron persisted stubbornly.
"Ah Draco…now that he's back, I guess everything's going to go back to normal. I mean he will definitely have a heart attack if he finds out that the three of us have become friends since he's been gone - I mean honestly, his best friend hanging out with his worst enemy? What a nightmare!" Blaise laughed lightly, but Harry and Ron could sense that he kind of meant it.
"So you're just going to leave us? Just like that?" Harry gasped, mock-hurt.
"After all we've been through together?" Ron added feigning heartache.
"I suppose. I mean its been great actually getting to know you two but…" said Blaise quietly.
"Its ok mate, we understand." Ron reassured him. Harry nodded in agreement.
"Don't worry about it. We didn't really think that we could've kept this whole secret friendship thing going for much longer anyway. Maybe its better this way." Harry reflected thoughtfully.
It was at that moment that Hermione stepped into the Common Room, still wearing a peach coloured dress from the 18th Century.
"HERMIONE!" Both Ron and Harry jumped up and raced to their long lost friend and hugged her so tightly that she couldn't breathe.
"Oh my god guys, I've missed you both so much!" she replied.
"How are you!" asked Ron excitedly.
"Nice dress by the way, Hermione." Harry said slyly, checking her out.
"Shut up Harry." she responded playfully. Then her eyes swept across the Head Common room and found Blaise Zabini lounging languidly in one of the armchairs.
"Welcome back, Granger." he drawled lazily, his eyes holding hers in a cool gaze.
Hermione choked for a moment. He resembled Xavier so uncannily that they could be identical twins. But the difference was in their voices - Xavier's was polished, haughty and accented. Blaise's was less polished, more sly and had no trace of an accent.
"Hi B-Blaise…what are you doing here?" Hermione stammered in response.
"Waiting for Draco. Where is he?" he responded.
"I think he's back at the Slytherin Common room." she answered.
"Alright, I'll be going then. See you around." Blaise said, and exited the Common room.
"What was he doing here?" Hermione asked when he had gone.
"He…er…"
"Well Hermione, you see…"
"What?" she demanded.
"Well since you and Malfoy have been gone, the three of us have been kind of lonely, so we kind of became temporary friends. I mean we had to spend a lot of time together in the library researching French family trees to find where in time you guys were…so…" Harry explained quietly.
"Do you mind?" Ron asked.
"Uh…well…he doesn't seem so bad I guess." Hermione answered diplomatically.
"He isn't, trust me. He's heaps better than Malfoy." Harry reassured her.
"That reminds me, did Malfoy try anything on you while you were in France?" asked Ron worriedly.
"He - no, he didn't dare. Why would he want anything with a Mudblood?" Hermione replied in what she hoped was a nonchalant voice.
"Don't call yourself that, Hermione." Ron said quietly. Hermione grimaced.
"Yeah, anyways fill me in on what's been happening since I've been gone." she said.
"Don't change the topic. Are you sure Malfoy didn't do anything to you?" Harry asked firmly, searching her eyes.
"God. What is wrong with you two? Nothing happened! We got sent back in time, we were forced to live together for a month and then Snape found us and took us back. End of story." she snapped.
"What happened during that month?" asked Ron suspiciously.
"Nothing that you should be worried about! If you must know, I was betrothed to his brother, so he couldn't try anything even if he wanted. We just spent the whole time throwing insults at each other." Hermione said stubbornly.
"Alright. Fine, we believe you." Ron said, a tad uncertainly.
"Ok. Now tell me about what's been happening." Hermione said nicely.
"Uh well…" Ron started, but then stopped, "Why don't you go first, Harry?"
"What? Um…nothing much has really happened here since you've been gone. You know, everyone's basically the same, except for the ever-changing Head Girl replacements." He grinned.
"Yeah I know about that already - god, they must be desperate if they've got Millicent Bulstrode now." she said lightly, and Harry and Ron both forced out laughter.
"Yeah so you know how Harry's Head Boy, and there have been sooo many different Head Girls living here with him throughout the month…" Ron trailed off.
"Ok…you're making me suspicious. What happened?" asked Hermione.
"Well, living at such close quarters with certain people, things are bound to happen…" Harry said nervously.
"Who did you sleep with Harry!" Hermione asked surprisedly.
"I- what! No I didn't sleep with anyone. I've just, you know, got a girlfriend." he answered tentatively.
"Oh. Who is it?" Hermione asked lightly.
"Padma Patil." Harry answered meekly.
"Oh. Well…she's clever. And pretty. Congratulations Harry." she said half-heartedly.
"Thanks. And er, Ron's got a girlfriend too…" Harry said, and Ron stomped on his foot in anger.
"Harry!" he said angrily.
"Geez, you would have to tell her some time or another." Harry reasoned.
"Fine. I'm going out with Parvarti." Ron said quietly.
"What! Oh for god's sake. You got identical girlfriends! That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I disappear for a month and you two go and make friends with Slytherins, and get yourself identical girlfriends. God." Hermione fumed, and then stormed off to the Head Girl's room.
"You've got to understand Hermione that because you were gone, we needed some girls to fill in the space that you had left behind!" Harry shouted from the other side of the closed door. She didn't answer.
"God. What's her problem?" Ron asked with a roll of his eyes.
"I think something did happen between her and Malfoy." Harry said.
"Yeah I didn't believe her either." Ron agreed.
"I think that that's what's making her all snappy. We should give her some time alone." Harry said.
So they left the Common room in search of their identical girlfriends.
Draco stepped back into the Slytherin Common Room and found himself surrounded by his housemates who let out a huge cheer when he arrived.
"Oh Draco! We were so worried about you!" Pansy Parkinson simpered, pushing her way through the crowd towards him.
"You shouldn't have been. You know I know how to take care of myself." He answered lazily.
"The House was lost without you." a sixth year called Mandy Nylan said, batting her eyelashes at him.
"Thanks Mandy. I'm sure that wasn't true." he said with a grin.
"Draco! Tell us about your adventure." a boy called Malcolm Baddock said.
"There's really not too much to talk about, it was rather uneventful and boring." Draco said.
"Did you really have to spend a whole month with that Mudblood Granger?" asked Pansy, her eyes wide.
"Yeah, actually I did." he replied.
"Oh! That stupid girl! I'm so jealous!" Pansy declared.
"You shouldn't be. I treated her horribly, trust me Pans, you wouldn't have wanted to be in her position." Draco drawled, knowing that he was only half-lying.
"Oh. That's good then." Pansy said with a smile.
"Anyways, if you will all excuse me. I need to get some rest." He strode to his dormitory and shut the door.
"WELCOME BACK DRACO!" the rest of his housemates chorused as the door closed.
Draco lay on his bed, alone in his private room. He stared up at the top of his four-poster bed and thought about the events of the whole last month. It really had been quite an experience…a very eye-opening experience.
He wasn't sure if he regretted being sent back in time with Hermione or not - on one hand he had gotten to know her, and realised that she really wasn't such a bad person, but on the other he had found himself with feelings for her that certainly weren't there while they had been at Hogwarts together.
He knew that she had been hurt by seeing Priscilla kissing him, and he knew that she had feelings for him too. He had known since they had boarded the ship and that night, god that awesome night that they had shared a kiss…he wouldn't be able to forget it. Ever. There was just something so dangerous, so alluring about kissing your enemy…well, former enemy at least.
But then he had to go and ruin it by pretending that he was drunk. What would've happened if he hadn't acted drunk? What if he had admitted to kissing her? Would something else have happened? Would they have acknowledged their growing attraction to one another and would…
No. He couldn't think about that anymore. It was all in the past now. Hermione had made it very clear to him that she wanted nothing to do with him now that they were back at Hogwarts. Damn her for that. He had actually been fighting with himself over whether or not to stay friends (or something more…) with her once they were back, and his heart had won over his mind and he had decided that he didn't want to lose her, but in the end it wasn't even up to him. Just a few words from her and they were over.
She wanted him to forget about what had happened during the past month, but how could he do that? How could she do that? It was just one of those experiences that you just don't forget. They basically lived together for almost a month and they hadn't spent the whole time at each others' throats trying to outsmart one another or anything like that…they had been friends and damn it, it had been amazing. He had never been able to talk to a girl like that ever before - like an equal, and no girl had ever talked to him without the intention of sucking up to him.
And -
His thoughts were interrupted by a quiet knock on the door.
"Come in." he said wearily. A raven-haired boy poked his head around the door. Blaise.
"Good to see you, Draco." he said with a wink.
"Yeah. What's up?" asked Draco bluntly.
"Nothing much, I just wanted to see you. I mean you have been gone for a month." Blaise replied just as bluntly.
"Well I'm fine. I don't really feel like talking at the moment." Draco said brusquely.
"Ok. I'll talk to you later then." Blaise said, turning to go.
"Wait, Blaise why weren't you there in the Common room when I came back?" asked Draco suspiciously.
"Where I was is none of your business, Draco." Blaise replied defiantly
"Don't come back. I don't want to talk to you later." Draco muttered as Blaise was going to shut the door behind him. He wasn't sure if the other boy had heard him, but he hoped that he had. Seeing Blaise brought back memories of Xavier…and Xavier definitely wasn't a good memory to remember.
He knew that he was being harsh to his best friend but there was just something so disconcertingly Xavier-like about the way that Blaise behaved that made him angry at his friend. The memory of what Xavier had almost done to Hermione was still fresh in his mind, and he wasn't sure how long it would take for him to differentiate between Blaise and Xavier, but he knew that until then, he shouldn't talk to him.
Draco knew that he had imposed this isolation on himself, but at the moment lying on the bed by himself in his dark room - he felt alone. Very alone.
A/N: Another chapter finished, hehe I guess I scared you all with the last chappie eh? How could I end the story like that! Don't worry guys, there's still much more to come on Through The Ages! So stay tuned!
THANKS TO ALL MY REVIEWERS! Wow, so many reviews…I was so happy! And we passed the 160 mark! Thanks to the 160th reviewer GryffindorGirl14!
EosRaven: Sorry about the Priscilla kissing Draco thing, I didn't like writing it, but I had to, to create complications. Thanks for your review!
Curlygntx: Yes, Hermione will still be Head Girl. Thanks for your review!
Thanks to all my other reviewers who thought I was ending the story (hehe) :
Lady-Delphinea, Shimmering Evil, Hali, Kace08, Monday Mornings, Flavagurl, HgBookworm, marieerin, brittnee, The Lady of the 4leafed Clover, raisa, vote-larry4prez, TheConductorsLEASTFavorite, Chalindra, taralynetteC, BluesSword16.