Chapter Twenty Three

Hermione felt waves of regret and frustration rolling over her as Draco slammed the door on her. Why did everything have to be so damned complicated with them? They always got so close to getting what they wanted with each other but then something would pop up and ruin everything.

She hadn't wanted everything to end between them again - especially not like this…and especially not after they had been through all of this already.

But she knew that his connections to the Dark side would surface and force them apart sometime - it was inevitable considering his background but she had tried to ignore it and instead she imagined what it would be like to be with him, to be the one who changed him - to be the one who won him over to the Light side.

She felt so utterly betrayed - how could he go and become a Death Eater after all that had happened between them! Hadn't she had any sort of effect on him? Hadn't she changed him just a little bit? Hadn't she made him question his beliefs at all?

Well she thought she had at least a little but that obviously wasn't the case.

She sighed and collapsed onto her bed. She knew that she had been harsh to him when he had come in today with no clue about how much damage their relationship had suffered because of what she had found out but really, how could she be kind to him when he was just using her to get to Harry?

Hermione tried to push away the feelings of guilt and regret and focus on something else - the fact that Draco was going to become a Death Eater. She couldn't believe it - he was still so young…the Death Eaters had always seemed to her to be this underground cult of sorts that evil Pureblooded old men were part of - definitely not the place for a seventh year Hogwarts boy.

Then a sickening kind of realisation hit as she finally understood the implications of Draco becoming a Death Eater - they would be fighting against each other in the not so distant Wizarding war. Hermione let out a small cry of anguish…how could everything have turned out like this? She wasn't meant to have these feelings for Draco Malfoy, she was meant to hate him and feel nothing but repulsion when she saw him…but that was so far from the truth of what she really felt that it was beginning to scare her.

How could her feelings for him have changed so drastically?

She shook her head.

She couldn't go on like this - she shouldn't regret what she had done to him because it was justified, he didn't feel for her the way she felt for him so why should she put herself on the line so that he could use her to fulfil his Dark Lord's evil plans for Harry?

Hermione sat up, feeling more resolute and determined. She wasn't going to let this get to her - she was going to make herself forget everything that had happened between them from their tentative first friendship, to how he had saved her from Xavier, to their first kiss and everything since then.

She closed her eyes but she could not get memories of the time they had spent together out of her mind. She kept seeing his silvery blond hair, his aristocratic features and those beautiful steel grey eyes staring back her in her mind.

Hermione sighed.

It wasn't going to be easy to forget about Draco Malfoy.

She had fallen asleep for the rest of the afternoon - her only escape from her troubles but she was woken up by incessant knocking on her bedroom door. The room was only lit by the rays of the fading sunshine and she cursed whoever it was who had woken her up.

Hermione stumbled to the door and blearily glared at the intruder.

"Blaise!" she exclaimed, suddenly alert.

"Hi, sorry for waking you up…" he apologised, but Hermione wasn't listening to him.

She was looking guiltily at his bloody nose and his swollen eye.

"Is that what he did to you?" She whispered, reaching out to touch his eye timidly.

Blaise took a deep breath and then exhaled and nodded.

"Oh my god. I'm sorry, this is all my fault…if I hadn't blown up at him today then he wouldn't have hit you." She murmured.

"It's ok. I'd rather be the one that he ended up hurting - if I hadn't told you about him, then you'd be the one suffering and I definitely wouldn't want that." Blaise told her, looking at her sincerely.

Hermione gulped.

An awkward silence ensued.

"So, er I had better help you get cleaned up." said Hermione.

She led him into the shared Head bathroom and turned on the tap, wetting a wad of tissues which she used to gently dab away the dried blood on his face. His eyes never left her as he watched her carefully clean him up and he saw that she was flushing slightly from being so close to him again.

He smirked and wound his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.

"You know I meant everything that I said - and did this morning." he whispered into her ear.

Hermione's heart rate sped up at hearing those words and also from being in such close proximity to him once again.

"Blaise…" she started off before she was rudely interrupted by another male voice.

"Hermione!"

It was Harry. And by the look on his face, he was very startled by what he saw.

"What are you err…and Blaise doing?" He asked suspiciously.

"Um hi Harry, I was just helping Blaise get cleaned up. He got into a fight with Malfoy." she explained, stepping away from Blaise.

"Oh right then. Doesn't look like much cleaning up is going on." Harry replied.

"Cleaning me up is all that she's been doing I assure you, Potter." Blaise responded firmly.

"Ok whatever. I'll talk you later then, Hermione. Are you guys coming down for dinner?" Harry said, still obviously unconvinced.

"No I don't think so…do you think you could do us a favour and bring up some food later?" Hermione asked

"Sure. Well, see you later then - bye Blaise." Harry said, turning to go.

Once he was gone, Hermione let out the breath that she had been holding and turned to Blaise and smiled.

"You know, for a moment I thought that he was going to bash you up as well." she joked.

"Me too." he replied and then his eyes locked with hers again.

"Look Blaise, I'm kind of still confused at the moment. I don't really think the now is a good time for a relationship between us…" Hermione said uncomfortably.

"Its ok, I can wait." Blaise replied softly.

"I'm not so sure about that." Hermione laughed faintly.

"Hermione, I'm serious. Don't be so worried…I'm nothing like Draco." he said.

"I know, but I still think that it's too soon for all this." Hermione replied timidly.

"I can help you get over him. You just have to accept me." said Blaise firmly.

"Accept you as what?" she asked.

"More than just a friend." he answered.

Hermione sighed and walked out of the bathroom to the portrait hole.

"I'll have to think about it first, Blaise. I'll talk to you tomorrow or something…I had better go down and join Harry and Ron for dinner." she said finally.

Blaise nodded with a small smile and then said,

"I'll be waiting for you, whether or not you decide to accept me."

Hermione gulped again and nodded numbly before stepping out of the Head dormitories and making her way down to the Great Hall.

Draco was sitting at the Slytherin table surrounded by all his Housemates and yet he felt completely alone. His eyes scanned the Gryffindor table for Hermione but she was conspicuously absent from her group of idiots and suspiciously, so was Blaise.

He was still reeling from what had happened between him and Hermione - what the hell could've happened to make her hate him so much all of a sudden?

Draco shook his head and put his cutlery down with a loud clang making all of his Housemates stop their chatter and stare at him in surprise.

"Draco, sweetie…are you alright?" Pansy simpered.

"I'm fine." He muttered, standing up.

"Where are you going?" asked Millicent.

"Back to the dorms." he replied callously, storming out of the Great Hall - not giving a damn that everyone was giving him startled looks.

He only had one thing on his mind.

Draco hadn't gone very far when he found what he was looking for.

She was coming down the stairs looking almost normal until she saw him and her features hardened.

"Granger, I need to talk to you." he said lowly, moving to block her way down.

"Get out of my way, Malfoy." Hermione answered crossly.

"We need to talk." Draco said tensely.

"There's nothing to talk about." she replied sullenly, and made to push him out of the way.

Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her firmly against him. She shot him a glare and tried to wriggle out of his grip but he was too strong for her.

"Let go of me, Malfoy." she demanded angrily.

"Not until you agree to talk to me." he countered.

"Well in case you haven't noticed, I'm already talking to you so let go of me now or else I'll scream." Hermione replied icily.

Draco didn't reply and instead held onto her even tighter.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING MALFOY!" Hermione yelled.

He turned around and pointed his wand at her muttering silencio under his breath, effectively shutting her up. She shot him a look of deep hatred and continued to mouth curses at him.

"Sorry Granger, I just can't hear you." he said indifferently, and then proceeded to drag her all the way up to the Astronomy Tower.

When they got there he took the Silencing Charm off her and then locked the door behind him.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING MALFOY!" she screamed at him.

"Keep your voice down, Granger. If any of the professors find us here, we'll both get into trouble." Draco answered silkily.

Hermione was absolutely fuming at this stage and she stepped forwards and grabbed the collar of his school shirt and pulled him towards her.

"Ok, Malfoy I don't know what you're playing at, but I'm not going to tell you anything." she whispered coldly.

"Let go of my collar." he whispered back.

"Not until you let me get back to my friends." Hermione hissed.

"I'll let you go after you co-operate with me." he answered. She let go of him and stepped back, glaring at him.

"But I don't understand what you want from me now, Malfoy. If you're here to 'explain' yourself then I don't want to hear your lies. So really, this is a completely pointless exercise and I demand that you let me go now." Hermione said harshly.

"This is not a pointless exercise, Granger. I want to know what exactly you found out about me that made your feelings towards me change so much - and I promise you that you can ask me anything you want about it and I'll answer truthfully." he answered.

"How do I know that you're not lying right now?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Because Draco Malfoy doesn't break his promises." he replied softly.

There was a silence as Hermione thought about it.

"No. I'm not going to believe you again…not after what you did to Blaise." she said bitterly.

"What are you talking about? Me and Blaise are friends again." Draco said confusedly.

"See you're lying right now! You just don't learn do you? I already know everything, Malfoy! Blaise told me all about you and if you think I'm stupid enough to fall for your act again then you're wrong." Hermione exclaimed angrily.

"Blaise! What the hell did Blaise tell you! He's meant to be my friend for god's sake." Draco said startled.

"Oh really now, he's meant to be yourfriend and yet you still find it appropriate to give him a bloody nose just for telling me the truth about your little plans for me." Hermione retorted.

"What! When did I ever give Blaise a bloody nose! I've never been in a fight with him before." Draco exclaimed.

"STOP LYING!" Hermione yelled in frustration.

"I'M NOT LYING." Draco yelled back at her.

"I've already seen Blaise, and let me assure you, that bloody nose and swollen eye are both real so don't try to deny it." Hermione said coldly.

"I didn't do that! Did he tell you that I hit him?" asked Draco in shock.

"Yes and I believe him." Hermione stated firmly.

"You believe him? Granger, you have no idea how wrong you are about me - I didn't do it." He insisted.

"Oh so you're saying that he went and bashed himself up?" Hermione said sarcastically.

"Actually I wouldn't put it past him to do that." Draco admitted softly.

"And you're saying that he was lying to me about you?" she continued on sceptically.

"Yes, and you still haven't told me what he said to you." Draco answered.

"I think you know already."

"I don't. Just tell me."

Hermione didn't answer and was instead glaring at Draco and he was glaring right back- a silent battle of wills was going on. After awhile Hermione blinked and turned away with a sigh.

"He told me that you're going to be initiated into the Death Eaters soon."

There was a shocked pause before Draco replied.

"…What?"

"Don't act like you haven't heard it all before, Malfoy. Just tell me the truth. Is it true or not?" Hermione asked tensely.

"Absolutely not! Oh god, Granger, you've got the wrong guy." Draco replied with a horrified expression.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione said with her eyes narrowed.

Draco exhaled.

"Blaise is a Death Eater."

A/N: Hehe, another cliffhanger! Hopefully this chapter wasn't as bad as last chapter…I had such a hard time writing the last one because I absolutely detest Blaise and Hermione together but I still had to do it for the plot.

Anyways, please review - I'm in need of motivation at the moment.

Thanks to the people who did review even though they hated the whole Blaise/Hermione thing:

Lady-Delphinea, ShimmeringEvil, FamousOneLiners, foxeran, Kace08, Monday Mornings, Silverwolf130492, Mandie/POTTEROX, HgBookworm, hp-paddy, elektrikstorm.

Hp-paddy: I've thought about what you said about the whole boat thing and I wanted to change it to the 19th century but then I don't know…maybe I should just leave it because so many people have already read it as the 18th century but I agree that it's a flaw in the story. Maybe when I finish the story I'll go back and revise it ok? Thanks heaps for giving me your opinion!