Chapter Thirty
The rest of the dinner passed uneventfully with everybody else at the table still studiously ignoring Draco's presence, though he didn't seem to mind considering he had expected Potter or Weasley to have attempted to duel with him or something - so because they had instead opted to act as though he wasn't there, he was quite content to join in and ignore them right back.
By this time, most of the students had finished their meals and were all getting up to dance. Harry and Ron stood up abruptly after polishing off their meals and they asked their respective girlfriends to dance, and it was only when they had left, Hermione let out a sigh of relief. Draco patted her on the back good-naturedly.
"You shouldn't let them get you down tonight." He said dryly.
"I'm not, it's just that the atmosphere was so tense all throughout dinner." Hermione replied.
"Don't worry, Mione. They'll get over it and everything will be fine again." Ginny assured her optimistically.
"I'm not so sure about that." muttered Seamus darkly, glaring at Draco as he did so.
Draco seemed unaffected by this obvious show of dislike for him and instead he stood up and extended his hand to Hermione.
"Feel like accompanying me on a walk?" He asked her charmingly.
She grinned and took his hand, waving goodbye to Ginny and Seamus as they too departed, leaving the other couple to their hushed argument over their conflicting views on Hermione and Draco's relationship.
---
Once they were outside of the Hall, Hermione visibly relaxed - her shoulders losing their stiffness and her frown disappeared.
"Mmm, this is much better." Draco proclaimed, breathing in the fresh evening air.
The night was clear and crisp and the stars shone bright overhead as they made their way past the various enchanted garden decorations such as an ice sculpture of Merlin that resembled Dumbledore uncannily and past the rose bushes that filled the air with their perfume.
Hermione had no idea where they were going, but strangely enough, Draco seemed to be leading them purposefully to some unknown destination.
"Where exactly are you taking me, Draco?" asked Hermione curiously.
"Shh, be patient. You'll see." He replied with a wink.
She shook her head in response but kept silent until they finally reached a secluded clearing next to the Lake. The water glittered from the moonlight that shone onto it and to her astonishment, it was also unoccupied - they had passed countless couples er…attending to business in various other spots in the garden and so she was surprised to find that such a magical spot had been overlooked.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Draco remarked proudly, seeing her admiring expression.
"Wow, Draco…how did you know about this place?" she asked breathlessly, leaning into his embrace.
"Well, lets just say that it doesn't take a genius to find the way to the Lake." He replied sarcastically. Hermione swatted him playfully on the arm.
"Draco! I'm serious, how did you know the Lake would be so breathtaking at night?" she asked.
"Its erm, a long story." Draco responded evasively.
"Draco." Hermione said warningly.
"Okay, okay. Me and Pansy used to come here to get away from everyone at all the other Yule Balls." He admitted grudgingly, watching Hermione's expression.
She cringed, imagining Pansy in her position and she could feel waves of jealously crashing down on her - that stupid girl had been lucky enough to go to three Yule Balls with Draco…
"Hey, don't look so bitter! All that matters is that I'm with you now, not that pug-faced bitch." Draco reassured her, kissing her gently on the cheek.
She smiled, still staring at the Lake.
Suddenly, Draco broke the embrace and turned to her, clutching her hand tightly in his.
"Hermione…you know how I was asking you if you had any last words to say before we went into the Great Hall?" he asked quietly, his eyes gazing deep into hers.
"Yes?" she replied enquiringly.
Draco took a deep breath before saying,
"Well, there was something that I really wanted to say to you…"
Hermione smiled, her curiosity piqued.
"What?"
"Okay, I know that the past couple of days have been hard for you and I just wanted to let you know that they've been just as bad - if not worse for me." He started off, and Hermione nodded, prompting him to continue.
"I also know that this is going to sound incredibly clichéd and cheesy but - not being with you was simply torture. I couldn't stand being so close to you and not being able to express how I felt about you."
Hermione was feeling slightly dizzy and completely overwhelmed by his little speech and as though unsure whether or not he was being serious, she looked into his eyes and saw his sincerity.
Draco was still clutching her hand in his and he was obviously expecting a reply from her - but she was currently unable to form a coherent response to that startlingly romantic confession from him.
"Ergh, um I mean wow…oh my god…that was so…sweet…" she stammered, wincing at her choice of words, "Well sweet's not what I meant, I meant to say -"
But Draco had had enough of her stuttering and pressed his lips to hers to silence her. She gratefully obliged, pouring into the kiss what she couldn't express in words to him and they stood there for awhile, entwined with each other and the rest of the world seemed to disappear around them.
When the kiss finally ended, Draco resumed looking deep into her eyes before he murmured softly into her ear -
"I think I'm in love with you, Hermione Granger."
Hermione's eyes widened as her brain registered what she had just heard.
Her mouth formed an 'o' of surprise and her thoughts became even more mixed up than they had been before but this time, before she was able to make another garbled response, another couple had decided to make an entrance -
Blaise and Pansy strolled lazily into their sanctuary and both wore identical looks of disgust on their faces as they realised whose territory they had invaded.
"Well, if it isn't the Slytherin traitor and his Mudblood bitch." Blaise sneered, his blue eyes flashing at them both.
"Shut up, Blaise." Draco retorted in a low voice as Hermione instinctively clung onto him tighter.
"How could you do this to us, Draco!" Pansy wailed, burying her face into Blaise's shoulder.
"Stop overreacting, Pansy!" He snapped at her.
"How dare you say I'm overreacting!" She yelled back at him, "You're the one that betrayed us all by going out with that filthy cow!"
"Who's talking?" Hermione muttered under her breath.
"Don't you dare insult her, bitch." Draco added threateningly to Pansy.
"I'll do whatever I please." Pansy responded sulkily, staring daggers at Hermione.
"I should've known that it was you that told her about me, Draco." Blaise said suddenly, coming closer to them.
Draco was startled, having forgotten all about the situation with Hermione and Blaise.
"Well you were the one who told her that I was the Death Eater, so I had to set the record straight." He replied indifferently.
"I thought that it was only a matter of time before you were going to join us anyway, Draco. But I see now that you've completely changed your allegiance." Blaise shot back, eerily echoing Harry's words from before.
"So what if I have?" Draco asked boldly.
Blaise eyed his former best friend for a few moments before muttering,
"You're going to pay for all of this, Malfoy."
And then, he turned on his heel to walk away and both he and Pansy soon disappeared from their sight.
Hermione was shocked to find that as a result of that exchange, she was trembling.
"Hey, are you alright?" asked Draco concernedly.
"Yes, but its just that when you two were talking, I felt this distinct vibe of…darkness coming from Blaise." She trailed off.
"And?" prompted Draco.
"Well, it just reminded me of the feeling I had gotten whenever I received those 'love letters' from my other secret admirer." Hermione said thoughtfully and she sneaked a glance at Draco to see his reaction.
"Are you suggesting that Blaise has been stalking and threatening us?" he asked finally.
"Its just a hunch…I mean he does have all the motives…" she reasoned.
"You know what, I think you might be right." Draco agreed.
Hermione frowned again.
"I didn't think that he'd resort to this." she whispered.
"I did. He doesn't like being beaten by anyone, especially not me, so I'm not surprised if he is behind all this."
They stood in silence for awhile, again both lost in their own thoughts - Hermione feeling weighed down with the fact that what was supposed to be a perfect night had turned out so terribly different and she was still stunned at Draco's confession. On the other hand, Draco was feeling disturbed by Hermione's suspicion that Blaise had been spying on them and he also felt uncomfortable and embarrassed - maybe he shouldn't have admitted his feelings to her so soon…
Before long, the Yule Ball officially ended and they made their way back to the Great Hall holding hands but their thoughts were worlds apart. As they entered, people craned their heads to get a good look at them and Hermione felt so weary of the attention already.
"How long do you think its going to take for them all to get over it?" asked Draco wryly, rolling his eyes.
"A long time." replied Hermione tiredly, putting her head on his shoulder.
Ron and Harry had already left though Parvati and Padma were still in the Hall chatting to their friends, and she presumed that Harry was back at the Head Dorms and that Ron had accompanied him there, where she would see them and they would discuss her relationship with Draco.
"I'm going to go back to my dorm, Draco. Do you want to walk me there?" asked Hermione.
"Sure." Draco replied and they manoeuvred their way through the crowd trying to exit the Hall. Strangely enough though, as soon as the people in the crowd realised who was trying to get through, they parted and a path out of the Hall formed for them as the crowd stared at them partly in fascination and partly in disgust.
They both let out sighs of relief as soon as they were out of sight of the crowd.
"I don't know how we're going to get through this if this is how life's going to be like for us now." said Hermione resignedly.
"Just ignore them. Don't give them anything to talk about and keep your head up high, no matter what they say." Draco advised firmly.
They had arrived back at the Head Dorms and Hermione stood on tiptoe to give Draco a goodnight kiss.
"I'm really glad that we did this tonight." she said softly.
"I know, me too." he replied.
"And now that we know who was behind all of this stalker stuff, I feel much safer because I know who to look out for." she continued.
"Yeah but don't forget what I told you about Blaise - he's much darker than he appears to be." Draco warned.
"Don't worry, Draco. Everything's going to be alright." she assured him.
"Okay, then. Thanks being my date tonight, Hermione." He said mock-courteously. She smiled at him.
"You're welcome. I wouldn't have wanted to spend tonight with anyone else." she answered coyly.
"Me too. So take care alright? I'll pick you up tomorrow morning so we can go to Potions together." He suggested.
"That sounds great…" Hermione nodded and Draco started to walk away, "Hey, wait Draco."
He turned around questioningly.
"Yeah?"
"Um, I just remembered that I never got a chance to respond to what you said to me before Blaise and Pansy came." She blurted out, flushing.
Draco took one look at her reddening face and laughed in spite of himself.
"Don't worry about it. I probably shouldn't have said it so early on anyway, it's going to make things awkward for us isn't it? Just pretend it never happened or something - we can deal with it later when you're ready for it." He said kindly.
"Oh! No, that's not what I meant - wait, what do you mean 'when I'm ready for it'! Are you saying that I'm not ready now?" Hermione asked indignantly.
Draco laughed again, coming back over to where she stood and placing his arms around her in a comforting hug.
"Whether or not you're ready to tell me if you love me or not has nothing to do with how smart you are, Hermione." He said sagely, placing his fingers on her lips when she made an odd spluttering noise. Then he continued,
"This is a completely different matter and I respect that you might not be ready to accept that I'm in love with you - it's better if I give you time to think about what I've said than to demand an answer from you right now. So if you don't want to erase it from your memory, think about it and get back to me about it someday."
Hermione nodded mutely and pecked him on the cheek gratefully again before entering the Head Common room where Ron and Harry were waiting to sort things out with her.
---
Draco sauntered back to the Slytherin common room, apprehensive about what lay in store when he walked in to face his fellow Housemates. He knew that they had probably lost a lot of respect for him now but he didn't give a shit because he had made his decision tonight and nothing could make him change his mind now.
Muttering the password, he slipped into the common room, half-hoping that everyone would've gone back to their respective dorms already.
No such luck.
As soon as he had appeared in the Common room he was swamped by the Slytherins all demanding to know why he, their poster-boy had given up all the privilege and respect that he had commanded within the House.
"Malfoy! How could you betray us all like that!" yelled Malcolm Baddock.
"I can't believe that you'd sink so low and date a Mudblood!" another sixth year joined in.
"What on earth are you thinking, Draco! She's Potter's best friend!" screeched one of Pansy's friends.
The atmosphere in the room was reaching fever pitch and hysterical outbursts were taking place all over the common room until he couldn't even hear what they were screaming at him - it all just melded into cacophony.
"SHUT THE HELL UP ALL OF YOU!" he shouted when he couldn't take it anymore.
His voice resonated all around the room despite the noise and everyone obeyed his wishes, even though some were still seething with anger.
"Look, I know you're all disappointed in me or whatever but I just want you all to know that I don't give a shit what you guys think because I have the freedom to choose whoever I want to be my girlfriend." He started off levelly.
"But why would you choose the Mudblood!" asked a fourth year girl.
"That's none of your business, Mandy." he shot back pointedly, "And for the record, none of you have the right to ask me why I chose to date Hermione Granger either so I suggest that you all shut up about it if you don't want to suffer a painful death and if I catch any of you attempting to harm her I'll personally make your life a living hell."
There was silence after this announcement.
He gave them all one last sweeping glare, feeling like Snape and stormed off to his room where he shut the door and locked it - knowing that there would be at least ten people coming to annoy and question him sometime during the night.
He turned on a light and shrugged off his dress robes, leaving him standing in a crisp white shirt and plain black trousers. He stood in front of his mirror, looking at the person reflected in it and thinking how much his priorities and beliefs had changed over the course of the year. He was no longer the same snide and arrogant boy that had returned to Hogwarts for seventh year - he was somebody else and he wasn't sure if that was a bad thing anymore.
Suddenly, he saw a movement in the shadows behind him in the mirror.
"Who's there?" he asked in a low voice, his hand going to where his wand was supposed to be, only to find that it wasn't there.
There was no reply and Draco felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"Blaise?" he chanced, looking around for something that he could defend himself with as well as looking for the intruder. He saw the barely visible outline of somebody next to his bed - they had clearly tried to conceal themselves with a charm but it was fading now.
"Show yourself! I can see where you are already!" Draco yelled.
The intruder obliged, stepped out from the shadows and faced him, twirling Draco's wand in his hand lazily.
Draco let out a gasp.
"Hello, son." greeted Lucius Malfoy icily.
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A/N: Argh! I had to stop this chapter here because it was getting way too long - I'm not sure how the Yule Ball turned out to take so long to get past because I seriously planned for this chapter to be the second last…but it looks like there's going to be at least another two chapters before this story will end so please bear with me as I wind it all up.
Hope you all enjoyed that twist and again, thank you all so much for your reviews and support!
A general reply to my reviewers:
Omg! I'm so glad everyone agrees with me on how upsetting HBP was…I thought that I was the only one who really disliked the ending but I thought it was a definite improvement from OotP. Anyways, looking forward to the seventh book nevertheless and I also think that R.A.B is Regulus Black and that Snape is innocent, despite what JKR wants you to think!