Chapter Twenty Seven
Bright beams of sunlight streamed through the open window of the Head Girl's room and shone onto Hermione's face. She slowly awoke, stretching languidly and clutched her warm toasty quilt closer to her body in an effort to protect herself against the chilliness of the winter's morning.
She turned her head and saw Draco, still fast asleep, his silvery blond hair scattered like a halo on the pillow. She smiled and reflected again on how lucky she was to have been given a second chance with him.
As she lay, watching him sleep, she thought about their decision to go public with their relationship. She had been so relieved that he had agreed to it because she had been worried that he was ashamed of being with her, but he had reassured her that that wasn't the reason that he wanted to keep the relationship a secret.
Hermione wondered exactly how they were going to announce it to the school…perhaps at breakfast this morning? No it was way too abrupt and too bold. Maybe they should try lunch, or dinner…actually, hang on, what on earth was she thinking! She had this crazy image of her and Draco walking up to the professors' table in the Great Hall and calling for silence. Then she could imagine announcing in her bossy 'Head Girl's' voice - "I'm dating Draco Malfoy!"
She shook her head. That was definitely not going to happen.
But how else could they make everyone aware of their relationship apart from telling them?
They could just turn up to breakfast together, holding hands and all that but she didn't want rumours to start - she just wanted to tell everyone that they were seeing each other, and that they were happy together, pure and simple.
Hermione brainstormed for a while longer, until she finally came up with a wonderful idea…
Beside her on the bed, Draco's eyes fluttered open and he turned blearily to her.
"Morning, Hermione." he murmured, pulling her close to him.
"Morning, Draco! I've just had the best idea for how we can go public!" Hermione answered brightly.
"What?" Draco responded drowsily.
"Well, the Yule Ball is coming up in a couple of weeks and we can go together." She suggested with a small smile.
"Are you serious?" Draco asked, frowning.
"How else can we do it? I've thought about it already and its really the only plausible way to show the school without being too abrupt." Hermione replied.
"Can't we just…I don't know, turn up to breakfast this morning together? Why does it have to be the Yule Ball? I absolutely detest that event, ever since I had to go with Pansy in fourth year, I've dreaded going." Draco groaned.
"Come on, Draco. There really is no better way to do it - turning up to breakfast together is definitely too abrupt and people will be gossiping away all day about it. At least at the Yule Ball I'll be able to formally announce it and stop people from gossiping, and we'll be able to show that we're really a couple." Hermione reasoned.
"Well if you're so set on this, I guess there's nothing I can do about it." Draco sighed.
"Seriously, it's better this way. I know it means that we'll have to still see each other in secret until then, but at least we'll be properly together by Christmas right? And besides, it means I'll have a proper date for the Ball, instead of having to wait for Neville to ask me to go with him or something." Hermione joked.
"Yes, Longbottom definitely doesn't deserve you." Draco responded, giving her an affectionate peck on the cheek.
Hermione was about to respond but was unfortunately cut off by Harry, who was hammering on her door again.
"HERMIONE! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR CLASS AGAIN!"
She turned to Draco, who rolled his eyes.
"Sorry but it looks like we have to finish this conversation later. You better go now." Hermione whispered, kissing him quickly before pushing him towards his broomstick, which was leaning against her wardrobe.
She grabbed her bathrobe and walked to her window, where Draco was preparing to fly back to his dormitory.
"See you later." She said softly, letting him envelope her in his arms. Then he climbed onto his broomstick and hovered next to her window.
"Yeah, thanks for letting me stay last night…I really enjoyed it." Draco replied, grinning, "Maybe we can do it again tonight?"
"We'll see." Hermione replied with a smile, "I'll meet you in the library after dinner and we'll discuss what to do okay?"
"Okay. See you tonight." Draco said, kicking off from the window ledge and disappearing around the tower.
"HERMIONE!" Harry yelled, resuming his pounding on the door.
"HARRY ITS OKAY! I'M AWAKE!" Hermione yelled back at him.
"So can you open the door? I want to talk to you." He replied, knocking.
She obliged, striding to her door and throwing it open.
"Morning. What do you want to talk about?" Hermione asked bluntly, still a bit annoyed that he had interrupted her conversation with Draco.
"Um, well firstly I want to ask…er…was there someone here last night?" Harry asked.
"What?" Hermione replied with a frown.
"Its just that I swear I heard you talking to somebody and this morning I heard you talking to them again faintly, and I looked at the clock and realised that you had overslept again. Do you want to tell me what's going on, Hermione?" Harry said, frowning at her as well.
Hermione sighed.
"Okay fine, I wont lie to you. There was someone here last night…but its not what you think."
Harry's eyes widened and he gulped.
"Was it him?" he asked slowly.
"Yes, Harry." Hermione replied, smiling in spite of herself at Harry's reaction.
"Oh god, Mione. Did you do anything stupid?" he asked breathlessly.
"Harry! I just told you that its not what you think! We didn't do anything!" Hermione said shrilly.
"Oh thank god, I was so worried that you know…" He trailed off, "Yes anyway, I suppose things are going well between you two now?"
"Yes they are. In fact, he agreed to go public last night." Hermione smiled.
"Really! Wow that's great, Hermione. I'm so happy for you…and for me - I'll finally find out who this mystery guy is." Harry chuckled.
Hermione shook her head and laughed along with him, thinking about how shocked he and Ron would be when they found out that she was seeing Draco Malfoy…
---
Harry and Hermione went down to breakfast together, though the Great Hall was almost empty since they were so late. They walked towards the Gryffindor table, where Ron was still sitting with Seamus. They seemed to be in the middle of a pancake eating contest and Ron was clearly in the lead. As Harry laughed at them, Hermione took the chance to scan the rest of the Hall and found Draco eating his breakfast by himself at the Slytherin table.
He saw her looking at him and winked at her. She smiled but then tilted her head towards Harry, letting Draco know that he shouldn't be taking risks like that in front of Harry and everyone else.
"Hermione, what are you doing?" Harry asked suddenly, turning back to look at her only to see her with her head tilted towards him and staring at some unknown person.
"Nothing…" Hermione stammered, putting her hand to her neck and pretending to massage it, "I think I slept on my neck funny. It kind of hurts."
Harry gave her a narrow look, as though trying to figure out whether she was lying to him again or not. She seemed to pass the test.
"Well maybe you should get your mystery guy to massage it for you next time you meet up." Harry smirked.
Hermione rolled her eyes at him and swatted him playfully on the arm. They had finally arrived at the Gryffindor table and they took their places next to Ron and Seamus. On the other side of the Hall, Draco had finished his breakfast and he was leaving through the doors and as though he could feel Hermione's eyes on him, he turned around and gave her one last meaningful look before disappearing out the doors.
---
Hermione had to sit through Charms and endure Care of Magical Creatures before getting to see Draco again during lunch. She was sitting next to Ginny and they were talking about the latest rumour - that the reason that Pansy Parkinson hadn't turned up to class lately was because she had done a botched Beauty Enhancement Charm on herself and she was currently noseless as a result.
Unexpectedly, her conversation was interrupted by a charmed paper aeroplane hitting her on the back of her head. As she rubbed her head, wondering who on earth would send her a paper aeroplane, Ginny was already unfolding the paper and reading the contents of it.
"What does it say, Ginny?" Hermione asked.
"Well maybe you'd like to read it yourself, Hermione." Ginny replied, handing her the paper.
Hermione,
I'm missing you already…I haven't been able to stop thinking about you all morning. I can't wait until we see each other again. Anyway, I was wondering if you'll be my date to the Yule Ball…I know we've discussed this already but I felt that I should ask you formally.
Tell me your answer when we next meet.
Love from your secret admirer.
Hermione was blushing a furious shade of red by the end of the letter - who would've thought Draco Malfoy could be such a romantic? She had to admit that she was very surprised and flattered that he was bothering with these 'secret admirer' letters but wasn't he making it a bit too public? She didn't want people to know that she was seeing someone until the Yule Ball but she couldn't help but feel flattered by the attention anyway.
"So Hermione…who is this secret admirer of yours?" Lavender asked, reading the letter over her shoulder.
"Hermione has a secret admirer!" Parvati gushed, coming over to join Lavender.
"Yes…apparently I do." Hermione replied with a tired smile - those girls could smell juicy gossip from a mile away.
"Wow how romantic! I wish I had a secret admirer! Ron's never been that sweet to me before - I'm so jealous." Parvati continued to gush.
"Hey, that's my brother you're talking about." Ginny interjected with a grin.
"Sorry Ginny, I tend to forget you guys are related." Parvati apologised.
"That's alright. Anyway, Hermione…do you know who this secret admirer is? Is it the same person you said you were unofficially dating last time?" Ginny asked bluntly.
Hermione shot her a look of shock. Ginny looked calmly back at her. Lavender and Parvati let out gasps of disbelief.
"Are you seeing someone at the moment, Hermione!" They asked in unison.
"Well not officially…" Hermione answered, still shocked that Ginny had told the two biggest gossips in the school that she was seeing someone.
"Yes but you are seeing someone right?" Lavender asked.
"Sort of." Hermione clarified.
"Oh my god! Congratulations! Who's the lucky boy?" Lavender prattled.
"I can't tell you yet…its still a secret." she said.
"Right, of course. Well don't worry, Hermione…me and Parv definitely wont tell anyone!" Lavender assured her, though Hermione knew that the moment she and Parvati left Hermione's sight they would be spreading the rumour around the school.
Once the pair had left, presumably to start spreading the rumour, Hermione turned angrily to Ginny.
"What was that for, Ginny?" she asked in a low voice.
"What was what for?" Ginny responded.
"You know what I'm talking about. How could you tell Lavender and Parvati that I'm seeing someone! You know that we want to keep it secret and you ruined that by telling the two biggest gossips about our relationship!" Hermione exclaimed.
"I think its about time that everyone found out about your relationship with him." Ginny replied.
"Since when did you have the power to decide that?" Hermione asked angrily.
"Since I realised that you had betrayed us by going out with Draco Malfoy." Ginny murmured.
Hermione's eyes widened.
"W-What did you say?" she stammered.
"Hermione, just admit it. There's no use in lying to me - I can see right through you. I didn't want to judge you when I realised, but I hate how you're not telling Harry and Ron, and I think that they definitely deserve to know." said Ginny.
"Ginny, I was planning to tell them. I wanted to go public about it earlier, but Draco didn't want to at first. But now he's agreed and we were planning to announce it at the Yule Ball - that's why he was asking me to be his date for it." Hermione explained.
"Oh. God…I feel like such an idiot. I'm so sorry for ruining it for you…do you think you'll be able to keep the situation under control until the Yule Ball?" Ginny replied.
"Hopefully. We'll just have to find new ways to sneak around." Hermione answered with a small smile.
"I'll keep your secret for you, but you have to promise me that you wont back out at the last minute at the Yule Ball. You have to tell Harry and Ron about it at least." Ginny stated.
"I know. Don't worry Gin, they already know I'm seeing someone…they just don't know who it is yet."
"Yes but that's going to be the hardest part to tell them." Ginny said sagely.
"I know, Gin, I know." Hermione sighed.
As she said that, she felt Draco's eyes on her and she turned and caught his eye and smiled. Then she looked away, glancing instead at her two best friends who were sitting next to Ginny, joking around as usual. As she watched them laugh, she felt the horrible feeling of apprehension come over her as she imagined their reactions when she told them about Draco…and she thought to herself, was he really worth the risk of losing her two best friends?
---
A/N: Well that's another chapter closer to the end we go and I promise you all that I still have one last twist coming up…so stay tuned for it! Thanks for all your reviews, they definitely gave me the motivation to write this chapter - so keep it up, don't fail me now!
Here are the replies to the reviews:
Ehlonna: this chapter answered your question I think…hope you enjoyed it!
FaeRie Fire lol read on and you'll find out what Blaise will do…
ElvinJewel14Wow indeed! Your review was so wonderful to read and it made me so happy that you think that this story is original and not cliched - which was what I was trying to achieve when I first started writing this. Thank you so much for your review, and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter!
Lady-Delphinea: Hehe, hi! Thanks for your review! As I said before, if you keep reading, you'll find out exactly what's in store for Hermione and Draco when their friends find out…
Alanpatty07: Thanks for your review, you'll find out the consequences of them going public soon - sorry for drawing it out!
losangeleschicklol glad that you like all the drama - I think that it makes the story much more realistic. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
I3aI3ygurlSorry I forgot to email you about the beta thingo - I don't actually have a beta reader…never had. Do you think that I need one? Thanks for your review.
padfootedmoonyhaha I cant wait till they go public either…I'm looking forward to writing it! Lol thanks for your review!
xx KyaniThank you sooo much for your review! It was really great to read - lol I didn't realise that I've been writing this story for about a year…I just update when I have the time really and take it chapter by chapter.
Babiblue754Thanks for your review - jealousy is coming up in the next chapter!
Steph: Haha wow another amazing review to read…I felt so flattered by it! Hopefully you liked this chapter - and btw I should probably warn you not to read Never Say Never…its…not that good lol. Thanks heaps for your review!
My-Chemical-Romance-Fan: Yay! I'm so happy that you got hooked…I never thought that people would like my story this much…thanks for your review!
foxeranwhoa that was a very long review - your life does sound pretty dramatic actually. Lol anyways, thanks for your review, it was verrrry detailed and constructive. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
londonmalfoyhaha I agree that all good stories have to have some angst and drama to make it more realistic - hope you enjoyed this chapter then!
Monday MorningsHahaha yes I guess Draco was very sensible in the last chapter and now he's romantic…hope that you liked that! Thanks for your review!
Mandie/POTTEROX: Sorry for leaving you hanging like that, I know it was evil…but I couldn't help it! Hopefully this longer chapter made up for it!
HgBookwormRead on to find out what Blaise and Pansy do…hehe. Thanks for your review (as usual!)
degrassichickThanks for your review! I love it when I get reviews from new or silent readers.
mysteriouscharmHm…yes they're going to go public…I'm not going to tell you whether you're on the right track or not about the consequences though! Thanks for reviewing!
FlavagurlHaha, don't worry, guys are overrated…just wait until you find THAT special guy, don't bother about the rest. Lol, thanks for your review!
xXWitchXxHope I updated soon enough for you! Thanks for your review