Salt in your wounds
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry potter or any of the other characters or the places or anything this plot is mine but that's about it anything that you recognise is not mine either, although I'm pretty sure there isn't much.
CHAPTER
"Ms Granger, could you stay back for a minute" Hermione nodded and headed towards the front of the classroom where professor Flitwick was standing on his stool, "yes professor?" Hermione stood obediently in front of his desk as he arranged himself, she watched as the Slytherin half of the class filed out, Hermione's eyes lingered on draco as he lagged behind watching the others leave.
"Hey Draco! You coming?" Crabbe shouted as he got to the threshold. Draco glanced quickly at Hermione and gave her a subtle smile, before closing his face back to the emotionless mask.
"Yeah, I'm coming" he ran his hand quickly through his black hair before walking out with a sigh.
"Ms Granger, the other teachers and I have all noticed a slight-" he paused and shifted unconfutable "a slight change in your grades and work" Hermione shifted foot, she didn't want to have this conversation, not now, not ever. "We are all quite worried" Hermione nodded, but then interrupted quickly trying to get out of this classroom.
"Are you trying to tell me that I'm failing my classes?" professor Flitwick looked shocked and shook his head quickly nearly falling off his stool.
"No, no, not at all, it's just that, well you got a ninety-eight in the last test that is the highest in the class but not quite your usual average, you-" he paused again taking a deep breath before continuing. "You miss spelt 'stupefy' with 'stupid fly'" Hermione bit her lip trying to not smile at the stupid mistake.
"Your right professor I have been feeling unwell lately but I haven't had a chance to go and see madam Pomfrey. I didn't really think it was effecting my school work so much, I'll try harder, now may I go?" professor Flitwick nodded and gestured for the door.
"Yes or course, I hope you get better soon." Hermione nodded and left.
"So why'd he have to see you?" Hermione jumped when Draco spoke from the shadows, she shrugged lazily and headed towards him he didn't move from his dark crevice in the wall.
"He wanted to talk to me about my grades" Hermione saw Draco tilt his head looking at her.
"Have your grades been slipping?" Hermione nodded slowly looking down at the floor.
"Have they ever had to give you that talk?" Draco laughed and let his voice travel down the empty corridor.
"Yeah they've given it to me, they kept saying 'when your father was your age' and stuff like that. Like I care, you're kinda lucky your parents aren't wizards, you don't have the same kinda expectations as us." Hermione nodded.
"You didn't always believe that, after all I was nothing but a mudblood for a while there" Draco winced slightly at 'mudblood' then sighed.
"Yeah, well people who are ignorant believe stupid things" Hermione smiled slowly and looked at Draco's face.
"Are you alright? Your acting kind of off" Draco had been inspecting the family ring that was on his little finger, looked up as she asked the question. He looked at her face and then looked over her shoulder into the distance.
"What do you mean?" his eyes had glazed over and weren't looking at her directly almost like she wasn't there. "Shit, you better go, your buddies are looking for you" Hermione turned around quickly and saw Harry and Ron walking up the corridor.
"I'll see you-" she turned back to look at Draco but found the dark corner empty. "That's weird"
"What weird? And why are you standing in the corner?" Hermione turned around her brow furrowed, before smiled at the two.
"Oh nothing, I was just- nothing" she shrugged again and Harry raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
"Ok then, well we were just going to meet the girls at the Quidditch pitch, you wanna come?" Hermione let out a loud laugh but bit her lip at the look on Ron's face.
"Sorry Ron, I have to study for a bit, Flitwick asked me to research something for him, I'd better get started." They both nodded and said their good byes before leaving and walking down the corridor. Hermione gazed after them wondering where it all went wrong. She slowly started to make her way towards the library.
In a dark musty corner of the library Hermione sat alone amongst large books she didn't so much as read them but gaze longingly at the ancient covers.
"You know herm' it's genuinely easier to read when the book is open." Hermione looked up and snapped out of her daze at the sound of Harry's voice.
"I was just thinking." Harry sat on a chair on the opposite side of the table to her looing at her intently.
"About Malfoy?" Hermione looked into Harry's eyes and stared at him confused.
"No, why would I be thinking about Malfoy?" Harry let a small sneer creep onto his face.
"I thought it would be Dracy-poo or snookums by now" Hermione let out a small laugh thinking it was all a joke, but then she saw the serious look on Harry's face.
"Your serious" she placed down the of the large volumes she was holding on one of the piles in front of her, "I don't believe it, you are fucking serious" she said it more to herself then to Harry.
"Of course I'm serious I saw you two, all lovey-dovey together, I thought you were my friend" Harry was trying not to raise his voice, but it was very difficult with the anger pulsing though him, Hermione stared at him in horror.
"Harry I am your friend!" she couldn't believe she was having this conversation.
"Bullshit Hermione! Don't lie to me I can see right though it, you've always been a terrible lire" Hermione sank back in her chair and looked at Harry, he was serious.
"you believed me when I said my summer was fine, you believed me when I said I was over my parents deaths, you believed me when I said I was just having a bad morning, you believe me when I say I'm just tired or I'm just busy or stressing about my grades" she didn't know why she was saying these things they just came out and she couldn't pull them back now.
"You've been lying to me?" Harry said in a shocked whisper, he stared at her as though she was a stranger to him, by this time Hermione's eyes were watering. "I don't believe you! I thought you were my friend," he was talking softly but soon his voice changed and was filled with hatred. "And all this time, you've been fucking my enemy, unbelievable Hermione unbelievable" Hermione leaned forward in her chair watching Harry with fire burning in her eyes.
"Not everything is about you Harry! You are supposed to be my friend! Friends are supposed to notice when other friends are in pain and are hiding things! Your enemies not the one that's supposed to help you, their not supposed to be the one who understands! You were Harry! You were supposed to be able to save me Harry! But you didn't! I don't believe you can pull this crap out on me! You can't call me a bad friend, when all this time I have been crying myself to sleep and just hoping that someone will be my knight" Harry lost his expression of hate when she said all these things.
"what happened Hermione?" his voice was gentle and calming but Hermione had let the door open to all these things that she had kept inside herself for so long and she didn't know how to close it.
"Harry, I've seen you in every class we share for the past week, I've given you my homework and helped you, I've talked with you and Ron at meals, but I haven't smiled once, not once have I been happy" Harry let out a small laugh.
"Hermione I've seen you smile, you're always smiling, I think you just over reacting." This time it was Hermione's time to laugh.
"You can't even tell when your best friend is faking, I've been your friend for six years, I know what makes you tick, I was there for you when Sirius died, and I was there for you when you've been down. How about giving me a shoulder to cry on? How about telling me the worlds not going to end because my parents died, how about showing up for their funeral, and holding my hand telling me it will all be alright?! None of that! I had no one left! I was alone and you didn't even bother to send me a letter. You know Draco was right, people are ignorant to others pain, any your no different, your trying to be the hero but you can't save the world. I'll see you later" Harry stared in shock as Hermione stood up and walked to the door.
"Hermione wait!" Hermione turned around and faced him; no hint of a fake smile was evident on her face.
"I'll see you later Harry" she walked to the door again before turning around and shouting to him. "And don't follow me this time"
Harry stormed into the common room half an hour later, he had spent the last half hour brooding about the fight he had had with Hermione. 'I'm not ignorant, and I'm NOT trying to save the world' were the thoughts running though his mind. Harry sat down in one of the comfy chairs near the fire; Ron and Pavarti were in the next chair doing what they always do.
"Hey mate, what's the mater?" Harry glared at the fire and didn't reply, "Mate? Harry? What's the matter?" Ron asked again after a moment of silence, Harry continued to glare at the fire.
"Malfoy" he said after a while, Ron groaned and posed himself ready to jump up and spring to action for a fight.
"What's the bloody git done now?" his face was going red with the suppressed rage. The portrait whole opened and Hermione stepped in carrying a large book, she looked around and spotted the two boys. Ron was too fired up to notice her entrance, but Harry looked up and stared at her, he had no emotion written on his face but she could see throbbing anger in his eyes.
"You should ask Hermione" there was a loud bang as Hermione slammed her book down on a near by table, drawing all attention to her. She glared hotly at Harry before saying loud enough to the whole room to hear.
"No Ron, why don't you ask Harry, he seems to thinks he knows everything about me" before storming off to the girls dormitories.
As she got to the first step she paused and said quietly so only the people closest could hear which including Harry. "You know Harry, when you start to find understanding and safety in your enemy; it really makes you think about whom your real friends are." Then she walked up the stairs to the sanctuary of her bedroom and her music.
Hermione rolled over in her bed, she hadn't slept at all that night, she was too fired up about Harry.
"Time?" she spoke out aloud and was replied by the magic clock that sat on the small bedside table
"Twelve-twenty-six. Time to be asleep" Hermione groaned out aloud wanting to throw the stupid clock to the other end of the room for that annoying piece of information.
She stared at the canopy above, for a while, "arrgg, red, the colour of my blood" she watched as the light from the moon that crept in though the half open curtains made shadows across the canopy she watched as the lovely pools of colour teases her imagination and it was like watching sunlight dance on a river of blood.
A light tapping on the window called her attention; she slowly got up from her bed and walked over to the window pulling the curtains open fully.
She smiled when she saw Draco sitting on his broomstick, wearing a loose shirt and pants. She opened the window and let him climb in.
"I couldn't sleep, I wondered if you were awake too" Draco stood in the middle of the room gazing around the room, Hermione watched him from her bed.
"Do you ever sleep?" Draco shrugged and read the titles of the muggle books on a small shelf near the window.
"No" he lifted a black book from the shelf and smiled at the cover, he traced the lines of the title slowly 'To kill a mocking bird'. "I never feel safe enough too" Hermione nodded and walked over to him.
"That's my favourite book, my mum and dad used to always quote it to me when I was younger." Hermione smiled at the memory of her family. Draco continued to gaze at the book before flipping slowly though the pages.
"It was the first muggle book I ever read." He smiled as he replaced the book on the shelf. "I had a fight with Zimbini" Hermione frowned and looked at him curiously,
"Why?" Draco put on an amused smile but Hermione saw right though it, to the sadness the he hid.
"He was pissed off that even though I have black hair and piercing, the whole of Slytherin still looks up to me, and would jump if I told them too. He said the only reason is because my father is my father" Hermione pulled him into a light hug, and they slowly started to rock backwards and forwards. "I don't want to depend on him; I don't want to be him. I don't want to be who my father wants me to be" Draco muttered into her hair. Hermione pulled away from him for a moment and looked into his eyes.
"you aren't him, when your father dies, kings will go to his funeral, when you do, friends will be there" she wiped away a tear that was sliding down his face, before draco wrapped his arms around him waist and pulled her to him and bowed his head to kiss her. Hermione's arms wrapped around his neck as they deepened the kiss.
A/N there's another chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, I am aware that I left you all at a tad of a cliff-hanger, but that was sort of the point, I am also aware that I have had a lot of fights in recent chapters, and I did that because my personal experiences with depression involved a LOT of fights with EVERYONE. I don't have that many more chapters to do so it will end in a maybe five more chapters that includes the epilogue. WHICH IS IMPORTANT SO YOU CANT SKIP IT!
Thanks my reviewers...
phoenix-tear-11 / BbyChick / Lelimo / fourthiv / london-brat / dramaqueen72 / fantasy-princess09 / Gothhottie / dracolov / Dark-Illusion1 / Erika / Luv2sk8e / ObSsEsSeD
V0xLoS- the engraving part is just representing what he feels, when he had that fight a lot of things became clear to him and sometimes that can feel like you bound and gagged and in possible danger, he was just drawing it in a place for people years to come.