I'm very proud of this chapter, it took me awhile butI've finally posted.
Thank you to lyrabelaqua, my beta, for looking over this chapter for me, you rock.
And a huge thank you to eveyone that has reviewed or read my story/stories, ya'll make unbelievably happy.
Itried to help you once
Against my own advice
I saw you going down
But you never realized
That you're drowning in the water
So I offered you my hand
Compassion's in my nature
Tonight is our last dance
I tear my heart open, I sew myself shut
My weakness is that I care too much
And our scars remind us that the past is real
I tear my heart open just to feel
Scars- Papa Roach
Friday came far too quickly for Hermione's liking. She hadn't spoken to Ron or Harry since… that day. They were totally unaware of the prat that would be accompanying them on the trip to Hogsmeade.
"Granger, shouldn't you be getting ready? Potter and Weasel will be waiting for us." the central source of all her problems said from the doorway of his room.
"Shut up, Malfoy." she spat at him before going into her room to change.
She walked into her room and stopped short of her dresser. On her bed sat a pair of pants, a sweater and a bra and panty set. The sweater and underwear were Slytherin green. After a minute of silence, Hermione stepped forward and ran a hand over the sweater. It wasn't hers, it didn't even look to be a girl's.
"Wear that, or we stay here." she heard to her left.
She spun around to stare at a smirking Draco Malfoy.
"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, her hand gesturing to the clothing on her bed.
"I thought it would be obvious to you." he threw back, an eyebrow arching.
Hermione stared at him, her mouth hanging open in stunned surprise. He'd gone through her things. He'd gone into her room, looked inside her dresser and touched her things.
"Get changed, Granger. We haven't all day." Draco ordered.
"Get out and I will." She reasoned.
"I don't see why I should, it's not like I haven't seen you nude before." he said simply.
"What do you mean?" she asked, the blood in her veins turning cold at his recent speech.
"You should take better care to lock the bathroom door or at least let some one else know you're in there." he reasoned, the smirk that had graced his face falling back into place. "Honestly, Granger."
Hermione watched as he gave her a once over, turned and made his way out of her room and into his own room. She stared at his still opened door, and then turned to sit on her bed. He'd seen her naked before. She couldn't be sure if he was being honest or not, but the fact that he would even say such a thing wasn't very encouraging. After another five minutes of mental contemplating, Hermione stood up, closed the bathroom door and turned to the clothes on the bed.
"Hurry up, Granger. Wouldn't want to leave lover boy and ever faithful Potter waiting now would you?" he called though her door. At least he'd moved to the common room; he had no idea what her password was.
"Shut up, Malfoy. I'm coming." she called back; peeling her clothes off before donning the attire already laid out for her.
Making her way into the common room, she saw Malfoy sitting on the couch and reading a book.
"Interesting choice of books, Granger." he said after she cleared her throat to get his attention.
"We're going to be late, Malfoy. As you've pointed out at least four times in the last hour." she informed him, her hands on her hips and her head cocked to the side.
"Not until you've put…" he glanced up and his eyes showed surprise. "You've actually done something without arguing?" he asked cautiously. As if she argued with him about everything.
"I don't have time for this. Are we going or not?" she asked, already heading for the door.
She could only guess whether or not Draco followed her, she really didn't care to look back and check. If he was going to make this a bad day for everyone she felt no reason to try and aid him in the process.
"Slow down, Granger." he called from behind her.
She was going a normal speed, the prat.
"Slow down!" he sounded a bit mad now.
"I'm not even walking fast." she called over her shoulder. "If you would stop acting like a prat, you'd see that and keep up."
She heard him mumble something under his breath but didn't catch it. When she finally made it to the court yard where the third years and up were meeting to leave, she made a break for Harry and Ron, trying to do damage control before the situation actually came.
"Hi Hermione." Harry greeted, smiling at her.
"Hello Harry, Ron." she said with a nod to both boys.
Ron looked fidgety and remained silent. She smiled at him, not sure what else to do, and saw him blush.
"Hermione." he answered with a nod of his head.
"Granger, I told you to slow down." Draco called from behind her.
She closed her eyes and grimaced when she heard his voice. He would make this day horrible if he had the chance.
"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Ron questioned, his hand grabbing Hermione's arm to pull her towards him.
"I have to bring him with us." she said, her eyes closed, waiting for the outburst.
"What do you mean you have to bring him with us?" Ron exploded.
"Sound it out, Weasel, it shouldn't be that hard for you." Draco said with a smirk.
"You're not helping this, you know." she glared at him.
"Now you're actually speaking to him?" Ron said, sounding a bit sick.
"Of course I'm speaking with him, Ronald. I have to." She added when she felt his hand tighten on her arm, "Will you please let go of me."
"I should have known better then you have asked you out. You're more worried about being bloody Head girl then being alone with me." Ron sulked.
Hermione stared at him with wide eyes. "What? I have to do this or he'll tell Dumbledore and I'll get in trouble." she tried to reason.
"Sure, of course. Being with the enemy to have a status is more important then being with someone who actually cares for you. Let's go, Harry, I'm going to be sick if I stay here much longer."
"Ron, you know it's not like that." she called to his retreating back. She looked at Harry with pleading eyes. "Harry, please talk to him and make him understand."
"I'll try, Hermione, but you have to admit, when you ask someone out and then they show up with someone else, your enemy at that, you tend to get a little mad." Harry said softly, not wanting Draco to overhear.
"But it's not like that, Harry. I have to bring him." she said through clenched teeth.
"Only to still have Head girl status. What's more important, Hermione, being Head girl or being Ron's friend?" Harry asked before turning to walk away.
She stared at him until he was lost in the crowd. She'd made the right decision and it still turned out bad.
"Granger, we have to go to the Head's carriage." Draco said with a not so gentle push forward.
She refused to look back at him. It was his fault in the first place. If he'd have moved the meeting to another day it would have been fine and she would be in a carriage with Harry and Ron, having a good time. Now she was forced to share a carriage with Draco.
"Are you going to say anything?" he asked as if nothing was wrong.
She stared at him.
"Fine, I'm used to having one-sided conversations." he said with a shoulder shrug.
Still she stared at him.
"So how has your day been, Granger?" he asked, staring at her. "Really, must have been a blast." he answered himself with a smirk.
"Shut up."
"She speaks" he said as he put a hand over his heart.
"If it weren't for you, I would be sitting happily with Harry and Ron. Now neither will speak to me." she finally stated.
"Ah, she speaks too much. Do you really think you would be sitting with Potty and Weaselbee? We're Heads, we have to sit together." he sighed.
"You seem to be enjoying it more then I am." she pointed out to him.
"I'd enjoy you're horrid singing if it meant I didn't have to give up my position." he explained.
"My singing is not horrid." she protested. "How do you know anyways?" she asked, genuinely curious.
"You sing in the shower… loudly." he answered as a dull red covered his cheeks.
"I do not." she instantly shot at him, even though she knew he was telling the truth. "Why didn't you ever tell me that I sing in the shower?" she asked suspiciously.
"You're not that horrible." was his answer.
She narrowed her eyes slightly then leaned back and looked out the window. She could hear him fidgeting in his seat across from her. What did he have to be nervous about, he invited himself here?
"What do we have to discuss, Malfoy?" she asked into the silence.
"When do you want the fist ball to be?" he asked.
"You know the first ball is the Halloween ball." she said with limited patience.
"Oh."
"Well what else did you want to talk about?" with a huff when the silence stretched.
"Why type of ball is it going to be?" he asked lamely.
"We've discussed this in the meeting also. If all of your questions are answered, I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak to me."
"Testy, are we?" he asked, an eyebrow arching.
"Why have you asked, no, demanded, that I go to Hogsmeade with you?" she asked, not expecting an answer.
She wasn't disappointed when he stared at her blankly. He was a strange one, she'd give him that.
"We're here." she said needlessly when the carriage rolled to a stop.
"Excellent deduction, Granger." he muttered, mostly to himself.
She stepped out of the carriage and made her way to a new book store that had just been opened.
"Granger, forgetting someone?" Draco called from behind her. She cringed at his voice but stopped none the less.
"Hurry up." was all she answered back.
She saw him catch up to her out of the corner of her eye and then made her way to The Book Case. She expected to hear complaining when they stepped through the doors, but was surprised to see he was just as eager to look at the newest selection of books as she was.
"Have you seen the new potions book that came out?" he asked in a friendly tone.
"No, I've read about it." she answered, distracted by the display of the book in discussion.
"I've heard it's better then the first one, 'The Art of Perfecting a Potion'." he said as he led the way to the display.
They both picked a copy of the book and began to read the inside dust-cover.
"I think I'll be getting this one." she while tucking the book under her arm.
"Mind if I look at it when you're done?" he asked as he set his book down.
"Of course you can. I've heard that a new charms book has come out, want to check it out?" she asked, going into bookworm mode rather then forced to be with enemy mode.
"I haven't heard about that one. Lead the way."
Hermione smiled as he bowed deeply then turned and walked to the charm section of the rather large store.
"Here it is." she announced as she reached for a book that her fingertips barely grazed.
"I'll get it." he said, moving her hand aside and grabbing the book for her.
She smiled her thanks at him and opened the dust cover of the book to read the introduction. It didn't sound at exciting as the magazine she'd read made it sound. She felt Draco looking over her shoulder at the dust cover and looked back at him with doubt in her eyes, not about his closeness, surprisingly enough, but about the book she held.
"That sound's drier then dust." he proclaimed with a slight smile on his face.
"I concur." she said with a slight smile.
She handed the book back to him so he could return it to the shelf. They spent the better part of the trip in The Book Case, leaving only when they had half an hour left until the carriages arrived to take them back.
"A butterbeer and the Three Broomsticks?" he asked and took her hand when she nodded.
She didn't notice Harry and Ron staring in disbelief when she walked through the door of the pub, nor did she notice Ron's face turn a bright shade of red when she sat down at a table while Draco got their drinks. She smiled up at Draco when he turned up with the drinks and pulled out one of the books she'd purchased. They bent their heads together to discuss the techniques described in the Transfiguration book, 'Tomato, Potato, They can All be the Same'. They started a conversation about potions class that led to an argument about Snape showing favoritism to the Slytherins, something Draco considered very unlikely. They resolved the argument in time to have a pleasant journey back to Hogwarts. As she stepped out of the carriage, Hermione was faced with a very disturbing thought. She'd just spent an entire Hogsmeade with Draco Malfoy and had a more enjoyable time then she'd ever had with Harry or Ron. She looked around to see if the two boys were around and was relieved to find they weren't. She hadn't seen them all day, maybe that was a good sign. She felt someone pushing her gently and turned to find Draco pressing a hand lightly on her back, his other carrying her bag from the book shop. He smiled at her and she found herself smiling back before she could even think to. He'd been civil this whole trip. He'd gone into a book store with her and not complained a single time, barring the whine he'd emitted when she dragged him into the muggle studies section. Harry or Ron would have shuddered at the thought of spending that much time in a book store. She was confused now, what was going on with Draco and her? It was almost like they were… friends.