Chapter 10
"Ah, Hogsmeade," Ron sighed loudly as they passed through the pillars with the winged boars and took a left toward the village. "The smells, the candy, the butter beer… I need this so badly."
"Most certainly," Pan replied, adjusting her headband. This headband was one modeled after the famous muggle artist, Andy Warhol. It had a picture of a soup can on it, and it was very eccentric.
Hermione nodded. "I'm so excited to be leaving school, if only for a few hours. We really do need a break."
"So, what are we doing?" Harry asked, breaking the monotony.
"Well, we should probably go to Zonko's," Ron said eagerly. "I'm low on a couple things, like smoke bombs and acid pops."
"No acid pops!" Hermione snapped. "I caught one of the older boys in Ravenclaw trying to give one to Dennis Creevey. Not a brilliant idea Ron, especially since you're in your last year."
Ron seemed a little downcast that someone had stolen his idea, but remained optimistic, no doubt because he could get something else as equally dangerous.
"I'm going to the Three Broomsticks," Hermione announced politely. "I'm meeting Draco."
"I want to come too!" Pan yelped, but quickly changed her mind when Harry elbowed her with great enthusiasm.
"I'll see you all somewhere," she said, wrapping her scarf around her neck tighter. The autumn winds were picking up, and golden leaves skittered past her feet. The others waved goodbye and continued down the main street toward Zonko's, while Hermione hurried into the Three Broomsticks.
The Three Broomsticks was warm and inviting as usual, with glowing candles and a marvelous fire.
Rosmerta was at the bar pouring drinks. When she saw Hermione she gave her a wave.
"He's upstairs!" she yelled over the din. Several of the patrons smiled amongst themselves as Hermione turned bright pink and hurried up the steps.
She found the room in which they had been set to meet and knocked on the door lightly. It swung open, and she entered to find Draco sitting with his back to her, staring at the fire.
"Hey," she said, sitting beside him. "How are you?"
He shrugged. "I'm okay. Not bad. You?"
"Great," she replied with false fervor.
He looked at her and smiled faintly. "No, you're not. You're mad at me, aren't you?"
She stood suddenly and went over to the table. There were two butterbeers on the tray, and she opened one and took a great gulp. The warmth slid down her throat and she sighed in relief. She pulled off her scarf and hung it on the hat rack.
"Yes," she said finally. "I'm a little mad at you."
"Why?"
"Well, I've been making a pretty big effort to see you frequently, and talk to you when I can, and I feel like you've been ignoring me," she said, anger creeping into her voice. "I shouldn't be the only one making an endeavor to make this relationships work."
He looked back at the fire. "We've had this argument before."
"Yeah," she snapped. "We have. And, it's you every time. Pulling away, pushing me away. If there's someone else, bloody tell me."
He continued to stare at the fire.
"There's no on else," he said finally.
She rolled her eyes. "I don't know whether to be relieved or upset. If you had been going with someone behind my back that would make things a great deal easier. I could just dump you and move on."
"You want to dump me?" he asked, his voice the same level monotone that she hated. He always adopted this awful drone when he was upset or angry, but didn't want to yell.
"No, I don't want to dump you, Draco," she muttered. "I still love you, but apparently, it's very one-sided."
"Do you want to break up?"
"No," she said. "But there's no point in us going out if we don't know each other anymore. Ever since we got back to school you've been steadily ignoring me more and more."
"Hermione," he said, looking up at her. His eyes were dull and lifeless, like he'd done something terribly wrong, but couldn't bring himself to tell her. "I think we should separate for a while, you know. Just put our relationship on a break."
"So you don't like me anymore," she said, willing the anger and fear from her voice. "That's fine."
"It's not that I don't like you anymore," he said patiently. "It's just that I'm not comfortable in a relationship right now."
"And what were you for the last four months? You were fine in August," she snapped. "Fine, whatever. You just wallow in your self-pity. We're over."
She grabbed her butterbeer, her scarf, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
She handed Rosmerta some money for the butterbeers and the room, and headed out onto the street. She kicked at a pile of leaves angrily, and then decided that she needed to think. And there was only one place where no one else would go.
As she had thought, no one was near the Haunted Shack. She plopped down on a rock and stared at the building with a mixture of hate and disgust. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs that she hated Draco Malfoy and he was an evil jerk; but she knew that wouldn't help the situation in the slightest. She took a big swig of her butterbeer, very glad that there was no alcohol in it.
What the hell was his problem? She knew he was nice guy, and that he really did love her, but he had been so weird lately. It was almost as if he had been brainwashed or something.
She hated boys with a passion at that moment, and just wished whole-heartedly that they would simply get brains, or leave her alone.
A/N: OOKKKKKAY... I'm seriously pissed off about this fic. First off, I have weird people telling me that because I made one small, minor, stupid mistake, I haven't read the books. Ever heard of a typo? To read the offending comment, check out the reviews. Personally, when I am dealing with three minor and major plot lines, I feel entitled to at least five mistakes. This chick accuses me of not reading the books, when clearly, there are tons of horrid stories out there with factual errors every three words.
Moving on. Not many people seem to be reading this, and sometimes I get the feeling that this one isn't as popular as the first two stories, so give me your feedback/opinion, and I'll figure out what I'm going to do about this whole mess.
And finally, if you're going to leave a review, it's fine if you point out my mistakes, I appreciate that. It's when people make stupid unbased comments that really make me furious. Sigh. I'll stop ranting. Thanks for reading this far if you have.
If you want, leave a review.
