Chapter 2: Hurtful Words Exchanged

"OW!"

Hermione awoke quickly and sat up, looking around the room. Her nerves calmed down when she saw Harry and gave a sigh of relief before standing up.

"Sorry, Hermione. Your bloody bird doesn't seem to like me very much." Harry apologized as he nursed his finger.

She walked over to him and gave him a friendly hug. "That's alright, Harry. I'm just glad that you're here."

He gently hugged his friend and looked into the brunette's caramel eyes. "How about you cook breakfast and tell me what happened. You owe me that much for persuading Ron not to come with." Harry joked, smiling.

Hermione nodded and made her way into the kitchen and grabbed a pan. After a few seconds of searching in the refrigerator for eggs, she found it and set them on the counter.

"Alright, so I suppose I might have overreacted last night...but I was feeling uncomfortable. Someone came over and...he kissed me." She replied, breaking an egg into the pan.

Harry looked at her quickly from the kitchen table and then gave her a questionable look. "Who kissed you?"

Hermione looked into the pan before magic-ing the empty shells into the garbage. "Dr-Draco Malfoy. He kissed me...twice." There was a long pause before Harry spoke again. "Did you like them?"

Hermione felt anger build up inside her. Not at Harry, of course. She was mad at the person who had made her open the door for him. She was mad at the boy who had invaded her space and then some. He had no right to suddenly kiss her like that. Twice. She was furious because the little creep had confessed his love to someone who didn't feel remotely the same way.

"No, I did not. Why would you ask such a question? Let's just drop it, Harry. Please, I've had rough night."

Hermione could then see anguish in Harry's eyes. "Hermione, by your letter it sounded like Draco had bloody raped you! Kissing you may have been a big deal to you but that's nothing to get all frantic about. It was only a kiss. If you didn't like it, then it shouldn't be such a big deal."

She looked at her best friend in surrender. "Harry, I was scared out of my mind that he might come back and rape me! This is Draco Malfoy of the Slytherin House we're talking about. Did you forget that his father's a Death Eater? Out of all the people I know, I thought I'd get some sympathy from you!"

Harry brushed a hand through his hair and looked at her. "I don't know, Hermione. Sometimes I get the impression that you're just using me for protection..."

Hermione scoffed angrily. "Harry! We know each other more than anyone else! How could you think something like that? Come off it Harry! Excuse me for my stupid sense of insecurity. How selfish of me! I would never use you, Harry..."

Harry looked at the floor before looking at her again. He wasn't quite annoyed with her, but she was the brightest witch of her time. Why did she need Harry around?

"Hermione, I think you're capable of taking care of yourself. Next time you're feeling insecure, don't tell me to come over to be your knight in shining armor over a stupid kiss."

Hermione Granger couldn't believe what she was hearing. All of this coming from one of her best friends since first year! She retrained the urge to throw the pan at Harry.

"You're being stupid, Harry! You don't understand. Draco could have seriously violated me! Just because we're in different houses doesn't mean anything! He's still human. I'm still human and what you accused me of doing, Harry, hurt me. That hurts to know that you think I'm using you!"

Harry walked slowly towards the door. "Hermione, it's you who doesn't understand. Draco wouldn't rape you. He's a no good prat but he's a pureblood, and you always hear his dumb cracks about purebloods and half-breeds. He despises them so much , I doubt that he would go out and rape one. You're just paranoid."

"No I'm not! You don't get it! You – "

"I understand perfectly. You cried wolf on someone who kissed you because you were scared he might come back and rape a Mudblo-"

Hermione crossed her arms with a solemn expression plastered on her tan face. "Go ahead, Harry. Say it. You know you want to. You've been waiting to call me it for years."

Harry's anger ceased and suddenly he looked pitiful. "Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call you that. It just came out."

Hermione let a few tears escape her eyes. "NO! I am a Mudblood! I'm sorry that I couldn't be blessed like you to have such a perfect and pureblood life! I may not be a pureblood, Harry Potter, but I'm better at magic than you and Ron combined!" Hermione screamed at him.

Harry's eyes turned cold and rage built up inside of him again. He stormed over to her and let all of his anger out on her. "Shut up, Hermione! Oh yeah, I have such a perfect life! My parents were murdered in front of me! Besides that and having every other servant of the Dark Lord trying to kill me, then yes! I have a wonderful life! You know what, Hermione? I don't care anymore! I don't care about you. I don't care about Ron. I'm just going to stop protecting my friends and move on with my own life! To be honest with you, I hope that Draco does rape you!" The words escaped his mouth before he could stop them. He looked at her, half sorry, but then turned around and headed out of the house, leaving Hermione alone again.

Once again, Hermione Granger was by herself. She choked back her sobbing and it came out as a wheeze. She slid down the side of the wall and buried her head into her knees, wishing that the school year would start. With one more month until the arrival back at the school, she wasn't sure how she was going to get through this.