Red Light

Chapter 6

I froze and stared at her. I couldn't believe she had just said that. What did she mean he wasn't dead? I watched him die. I stood right in front of Potter and Lucius. I watched and heard Potter cast Avada Kedavra. I watched my father fall to the floor rigid. I know I am not insane. I saw it all!
"What… do you mean… he's not dead?"
"He's not dead, Malfoy. He was in my room the night before we left for here. Him and Jaden… they were both there…," she said shuddering.
I stared at her in disbelief. It… It couldn't be… I bit my lip. She stared back at me with a look in her eyes. I've only seen that look once before…and I hated it… it was sympathy.

"Don't look at me like that," I ordered, "I do not need to be sympathized upon. Besides… I don't deserve sympathy… you do. Look what my father did to you… what Jaden did-"
"Shut up," she said.

I cocked my head slightly.
"Get out of my room," she ordered me.
I saw tears well up in her eyes. She turned her head. I took a small step back.

"Go!"
I walked back into the bathroom and shut the door to her room. I then remembered that I was still wearing a bath towel. I threw it off and slipped on some boxers. I closed the door connecting the bathroom to my room. I noticed the candle immediately went out as soon as the bathroom door shut.

I walked out to the balcony again and rested my elbows on the railing.

My father… alive… I don't believe it… or do I refuse to believe it? I couldn't tell. I don't want it to be true… the things he did to my mother and I weren't right. They hurt me and they hurt her.

"I'll kill him… I'll kill Jaden…"

I took a deep breath and headed back inside to go to bed. I needed a good nights rest after today.

The next couple of days passed in a blur. Classes have started. Homework was due. Quidditch teams needed practices.

I headed into the locker rooms after one particularly hard practice. What could I say? I had to work the team hard. We HAD to beat Gryffindor this year, even if it meant knocking Golden Boy off his broom.

I undid my robes and placed them aside. The locker room was empty because I had decided to stay after practice and mess around on my broom. It was refreshing to fly around leisurely enjoying the afternoon breeze.

I headed out still clad in my Quidditch pants and boots. I stood on the outskirts of the field and looked around.

I got lost in my thoughts again.

If my father was still alive, why hasn't he tried to contact me? Jaden hadn't replied to my owl either… well I could understand that. I was pretty angry with what he did to Hermione.

Hermione… the name sounded different to me. Like something exotic and special. I was so used to calling her Granger but in the past few days she's tried to get me to say her first name. I t was quite funny the way she went about it:

"Granger-" Draco started trying to call attention to the beautiful girl next to him.

"I have a first name you know," she snapped.

We weren't exactly friends but we we're exactly enemies. It was hard to explain us. I guess we were a hate-love friendship. Quite odd actually…

"I-I know but…"

"But what? Is it that you cannot pronounce it?"

Draco felt a slight bit of anger at the degrading of his intelligence. Of course he could pronounce it. Just when he opened his mouth to do so Hermione interrupted him.

"Here we go. I'll teach you to say it. Ready?"

Draco just stared at her blankly.

"HER-MY-O-NEE"

She smiled cheesily waiting for him to repeat her.

Draco couldn't help but give her a side smile and mutter softly, "Hermione."

She laughed and praised him. Draco laughed along with her.

I chuckled at the memory. I looked back out into the fields and noticed someone standing there in the middle looking up into the sky.

I started walking towards them. As I got closer I noticed it was a girl.

"Hello?"

The girl looked at me. I noticed she was wearing jeans and a tank top and a… trucker hat.

"What are you doing out here Hermione," I asked relaxing and closing the distance between us.

"Oh nothing… just wondering what it'd b like to fly…," she stated absentmindedly.

"I could… teach you if you wanted me to…"

She looked at me with a smile playing on her lips. She nodded.

I smiled and told her to wait while I grabbed my broom. I jogged and got it then jogged back to her. I let the broom float freely in the mounting position.

"Ok first thing you got to do is of course get your balance. It's quite simple really. Hop on."

She did so cautiously. She wobbled a bit and I put my hand on her back to keep her a little bit steady. She placed her hands on the broom handle making her balance a bit more.

"No Hermione… you gotta put your hands here and here," I took her hands in one of mine and placed them where they needed to be. I looked up into her face with a small smile her eyes met mine.

I immediately got lost in them. I made no move to remove my hand from hers. Her lips were parted. It was the perfect invitation… so I took it.

My lips met hers softly. I swear it was like heaven. I slowly massaged my mouth against hers. My hand slowly worked its way into her soft hair and onto the back of her neck. I felt her hand move into the same position. I never wanted to let her go…