Disclaimer: See all other chapters
A/N: Ok, I lied. This is not the last chapter, but the next one will be. Sorry about the delay. I've been really busy doing the job search thing. Anyways, I really hope that you like this chapter, thanks for sticking with me!
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Hermione had been sitting in the Slytherin common for a little over an hour and was on her third drink. She was desperately trying to forget the incident that had occurred earlier between her and Draco. She had no idea why he kept kissing her, obviously it wasn't because he actually had feelings for her, he could do much better than her. And there was the fact that up until recently he had despised her.
The more Hermione thought about it, the more bizarre the situation seemed. She knew her reasons for not liking her previously; it was mainly in response to the horrible things he had done and said to her. He had started just about every argument the both of them had ever gotten into. It was as if he had gone out of his way to argue with her. And now, in just a day, it was so different. Could he possibly have feelings for her?
"Going a little heavy on the drinks, don't you think?" Blaise asked as he came and sat next to her.
"Not drinking fast enough." Hermione responded, finishing her drink. She reached over to the table in front of her in order to fill up another cup when Blaise gently took the cup away from her.
"I think you've had enough. What's going on with you Mya?" he asked looking concerned.
"The only thing going on with me is that a certain someone won't let me drink anymore."
Blaise rolled his eyes and sighed. "Does this have to do with a certain situation that Ron walked in on?"
"He told you?" Hermione groaned. Now Blaise was going to embarrass her. This evening was just kept getting worse.
"Of course he told me, witness something of that magnitude could never be kept as a secret. Though, it was after he described in detail how hot he thought you looked tonight. I'm sure you realize that Millie was less than pleased by his observations."
Hermione giggled. "He really didn't do that did he?"
"Of course not, well he did, just not in front of Millie. I swear, he needs to control his hormones before Millie dumps him."
"Oh he'll be fine, she knows he loves her. He'd never cross the line."
Blaise smiled. "So why are you so upset, Mya?"
"I don't know if I want to tell you. I mean you are Draco's best friend."
"I won't repeat anything you say to him, promise."
Hermione sighed. "I'm just really confused, Blaise. We used to argue all the time, about the over the most idiotic things. But even though we fought, whenever he was close to me, I would get all flustered around him. Then he saved me from this Death Eater in Hogsmeade, and even though he acted like a git afterwards, I could tell that he was really concerned about me. Then that whole thing with Jay… I don't even know what happened there, but Jay won't even look at me anymore. And don't think for a second that I don't know that you had something to do with that too."
"I don't know what you are talking about." Blaise said with a sly grin.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Anyway, he kissed me last week and it was the most amazing kiss ever. And he kissed me again at the party and again tonight. I'm just scared that he's playing some kind of game with me. I don't know how he could change his view of me so quickly."
Blaise looked at her thoughtfully. "What are your feelings for Draco?"
"Please don't make me answer that." she replied lowering her eyes to stare at the rug.
"I can't help you if you don't answer."
"I fancy him more than anything." she said softly feeling tears beginning to form in her eyes.
"Hey, look at me." Blaise said, gently lifting her head. "Oh, Mya, don't get upset."
"I'm sorry; it's just hard for me to stay optimistic knowing that I have no chance with him."
"Why would you say something as silly as that?"
"I've seen the girls he dates, they are pretty much perfect. I mean, they may be a little lacking in the intelligence department, but maybe he isn't looking for someone with a brain. Every girl he has dated has been beautiful"
"Mya…"
"I know what you are going to say. I just need to forget about it, he's obviously just confused or lonely or something." she said trying to convince herself that he wasn't playing games with her.
"Have you ever wondered why Draco hasn't dated anyone since September? Besides that… colorful reason you shared with us yesterday?"
Hermione blushed. "I apologized to him for that. But I figured he hadn't found anyone up to his standards."
"Maybe he has…"
Hermione furrowed her brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it, there are a lot of girls in this school that like him, but he doesn't pay attention to most of them, right? So, obviously he fancies one of the girls he does pay attention to."
"Wow, Blaise, no one could ever mistake you for an idiot." Hermione said sarcastically.
Blaise narrowed his eyes at her. "As I was saying, Draco is not a shy person and would have no problem approaching any girl he was interested in. So which girls does he actually pay attention to?"
"Pansy, Millie, Ginny and me. Since they all have boyfriends and he didn't start being cordial with me until recently, I would come to the conclusion that he just isn't interested in anyone."
"Well… you are correct in that Draco would never attempt to win the heart of someone already taken. Even so, he doesn't show any preference between the three of them."
"Ok, so what are you trying to say?" Hermione was getting tired of this game. All she wanted to do at the moment was go to bed and not wake up until Christmas, which was the day after tomorrow.
"For the Head girl, you can be so thick sometimes. Obviously Draco fancies you."
Hermione looked down at her hands. "If this is a joke, this is a very mean thing to say to me."
"Oh, Mya, think about it. He goes out of his way to annoy you all the time. You could be on the opposite side of the room doing something that is of no concern to him and he will find some way to get your attention focused on him. And he kissed you. One time could be considered a mistake, but three?"
"I don't know… maybe he just gets confused or something."
Blaise gave her an exasperated sigh. "Doesn't he ever do something strange or inconsistent when you two are alone?"
Hermione thought for a moment. "Well he does speak in French to me a lot."
"Really?" Blaise asked looking surprised. "What does he say to you?"
"I don't speak French, so I don't know what he is saying. He does keep calling me belle though."
Blaise gave her a slow smile that made it obvious he knew something that she didn't.
"Why are you smiling like that?" Hermione asked, feeling a little annoyed. "What are you not telling me?"
"Belle in French is the same as it is Italian." he said looking smug.
Hermione had the sudden urge to hit him but restrained herself. After all, violence never solves anything. "Can you just tell me what it means?"
"He's been telling you that he thinks you are beautiful."
Hermione stared at him in shock. "He thinks I'm beautiful?" she whispered afraid that she had heard wrong.
Blaise put a comforting arm around her shoulder. "Anyone with eyes can tell that he thinks so. He stares at you all the time when he thinks that nobody is watching."
"He does?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, he does. Hermione, did he ever tell you why he speaks in French to you?"
"He told me that he was saying things that he wasn't ready to tell me yet."
Blaise sighed. "There are a lot of things that he hasn't been ready to tell you. I just hope that he's ready soon, because there is nothing more that I'd like to see than see you two together."
Hermione smiled and gave him a hug. "Thank you for being my friend." she whispered.
"No problem, Mya. Let's get back to the others before they get curious." he said, standing up and pulling her up so they could hang out with their friends.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Hermione woke up the next morning feeling terribly upset. After hanging out with her friends last night she had walked (well more like hurried in order to avoid Filch roaming the halls) back to her common room determined. She hadn't cared that it was really late and she would be waking him up, she needed to tell Draco how she felt that instant. Even if he turned her down, she would feel much better getting it off of her chest. She couldn't continue going on like this, not knowing how he felt about her.
With these thoughts on her mind, she ran up the stairs towards Draco's bedroom. Upon reaching the top of the staircase she noticed that his door was slightly ajar. Finding this to be slightly odd but not really caring, she opened his door and quickly looked around his room. When her eyes fell upon his bed, she realized that he was not sleeping; he wasn't even in the room. In fact it didn't even look as if he had slept there that night at all.
Always assuming the worst, Hermione came to the conclusion that he must be in someone else's bed.
'How could I have actually believed that he was just friends with that girl' she had thought returning to her room, tears forming in her eyes. Needless to say, she fell asleep crying that night.
Now Hermione sat on her bed just staring off into space. She hated feeling like this, allowing one person to make her feel so vulnerable. She had no idea how she was going to make it through to the end of the year trying to hide her feelings for him, it would be pretty much impossible. Sighing in defeat, she trudged towards the bathroom in order to start her Christmas Eve day.
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Later that day Hermione was still upset. That morning she had spoken with Julian and told him that she wouldn't be able to go out with him that evening. It just wouldn't be right to give him hope if heart belonged to someone else, even if that someone didn't return those feelings. Julian had understood and thanked her for being honest with him when it would've been easy to lead him on.
Now she was almost regretting her earlier actions. Draco hadn't returned to the common room all day and she could only imagine what he was doing all of this time. Well she was trying hard not to, anyways. Blaise had noticed her strange behavior after lunch, and not feeling like lying, she gave him a general idea of what had gone on when she went to her common room last night.
Now Hermione was sitting in her bedroom thinking about what she would do the next time she saw Draco. She knew that she would have to talk to him but she just had no clue what she would tell him. She didn't know if it would be a good idea to tell him her feelings for him. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sounds of the common room portrait slamming and raised voices. Hermione walked over to her bedroom door and cracked it open so she could hear what was going on. As soon as the opened the door she heard the voices of both Draco and Blaise clearly.
"You have to talk to her and tell her where you were last night, Draco. She thinks you were with another girl!" Blaise yelled.
"Shut up you idiot, she'll hear you." Draco hissed.
Hermione heard Blaise let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine then!" he replied sounding annoyed. "Lei ha bisogno di dirgli la verità. (You need to tell her the truth).
"Che importa? Non ero con un'altra ragazza, a meno che lei conta mia madre. (What does it matter? I wasn't with another girl, unless you count my mother."
"Che importa? Lei non sarà mai con lei se lei continua a nascondere ciò che è successo tra lei e suo padre! (What does it matter? You will never be with her if you continue to hide what happened between you and your father!)"
Hermione didn't hear Draco answer. She didn't know what they were saying, but she had the feeling that this argument was very important in some way, especially since it was obvious that it had something to do with her. That was the only reason she was still listening, she was hoping that one of them might slip and revert to speaking in English.
"So che lei l'ama (I know you love her)" Hermione heard Blaise say, not sounding angry anymore. "Ho saputo del suo che i cambiando sentimenti per lei dalla guerra (I've known of your changing feelings since the war.)"
Draco didn't reply once again.
"Draco, lei deve dire lei. (you have to tell her.)"
"Me odierà. (She'll hate me.)" she heard Draco say in a quieter tone.
"La perché odierebbe? (why would she hate you?)" Blaise asked sounding confused.
"Perché sono assassino. (because I'm a killer)"
"Abbiamo tutto l'ucciso, Draco, anche Hermione. (we've all killed, Draco, even Hermione.)"
This made Hermione focus once again, now that she heard her name in the conversation.
"Questo è diverso. (this is different)" said Draco.
"No non è. Lei l'ha fatto per risparmiare la sua vita, capirà. Ma se lei tiene questo da lei, e tiene a agire come lei è, l'odierà. (No it isn't. You did it to save her life, she will understand. But if you keep this from her, and keep acting how you are, she will hate you.)"
"I can't do it…"
"Draco, lei è disposto a rinunciare a una probabilitá per essere con la ragazza lei ama perché lei è spaventato? (Draco, are you willing to give up a chance to be with the girl you love because you are scared?)"
Hermione didn't hear anything after this, only some faint scuffling and the sound of the common room portrait opening and closing. She gently closed her bedroom door, not knowing if Draco was still in the dormitory. She didn't want him to know that she had been eavesdropping, or attempting to eavesdrop (its kind of hard to call it that when you can't understand anything that is being said).
Hermione walked back over to her bed and resumed her previous activity of what she would say to Draco. After about half an hour of getting nowhere, she heard a knock on her door. Feeling incredibly nervous, she walked over to her door and opened it. In front of her stood a disheveled and obviously distraught Draco.
"I need to talk to you."
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Oh, I'm so bad, lol. I promise that there will be only one more chapter to this story, even if it takes forever for me to write it. Please review! Criticisms will help me with future stories.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Thanks again to everyone who review my story on AFF and FF. I'm hoping to get at least 100 reviews on each site. I've responded to everyone who was written either a long review of one with constructive criticism.
luvzrock16: thanks for the suggestions!
Bob: I hope your sunburn is gone. Aloe is your friend! So is sunblock, lol. Sorry your friend ruined HBP for you, just ruin something for them in return. Yup yup. thanks for the birthday wish. Had an awesome day! I hope that when I write my next story you will enjoy it and review.
Mary P: wow… I didn't think anyone would like my story this much… as for the sex scene I suppose I may be able to do that. Don't know how long it'll be though
Amber: Thanks! Don't worry, I'm seeing this through to the end
Emz: glad you are liking it
Brittney: I actually enjoyed the book. I still have to go through it again the get the things I missed the 1st time around. I think you are right about their passion, thanks for your opinion
Michelle: English is great and I am happy I speak it, especially since it is known to be the hardest language to learn, but I think it would be beneficial to learn another. Plus I love Spanish
Stephanie: Ron is just a bit to hormonal I think, lol. It's cool that you are bilingual, no matter what languages it is in. Good luck with the Italian!
Shannon: Thanks for the lovely comments. You really said that to your boyfriend? Lol, he must've thought you lost your mind. Sounds like something I would do
ADevilNo::big smile: I don't think I will write a sequel. I'm usually happy enough once the characters get together. We'll see though
Forever His: really? Do you love it? Lol, thanks!
HPfanatic53072: I've only read HBP once, have to go through it again, but I did like it. I would make the chapters longer but, I but I don't want to draw it out.
Shining star: I did like it. Though for some reason I think it should have had a different title. The HBP didn't really seem to play a significant role. Maybe it's just me
Simpleness: I made sure that the translations are right next to the Italian in this chapter. Glad you are enjoying my story, and thank you for the complement.
Ocean Fish: lol, he has is moment's doesn't he :smiles: