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Chapter 8

Friends and Scars

Room of requirement, 1:00 a.m.

Hermione leaned against Draco on the couch in his room, wrapped in a blanket. The were silent and starring at the fire. For once Hermione didn't hate the silence and it wasn't awkward. For once she was happy, not worrying about anything. Her eyes traveled from the fire to Draco's arm that was on the armrest of the couch with his palm facing out. She put her hand in his and mover her fingers up to his wrist and stopped when she reached a red scar that was a perfect circle. It looked slightly familiar but she was sure she had never seen this one on Draco. She traced her finger around it.

"This is an odd scar," she said, "Did you get it from the night in the woods?" She felt his head nod against hers.

"I noticed it a few days after I left the hospital wing, it's the only one Madame Pomfrey couldn't get rid of."

"Oh," she sighed, "I should go, someone is bound to notice I'm missing."

"Potter?"

"Or Ginny, or Ron, or the others girls in my dorm. It's one in the morning and I've been gone since ten."

"Alright, if you have to."

She got up but Draco pulled her back down to give her one last kiss. "I'm glad you chose me," he whispered.

"So am I," she whispered back and left.

Gryffindor Common Room, 1:15 a.m.

Hermione softly said the password, luckily the fat lady was too tired to say much, an slipped into the common room. The room seemed empty and she began to tiptoe towards the stairs.

"Hermione?"

She jumped and spun around to see Neville sitting in a the chair by the dying fire. "Neville, what are you still doing up?"

"Studying for the transfiguration exam. Where were you?" he answered.

"I was…around, but why are you studying so late?"

He shrugged, "I wanted to get a good grade and then I fell asleep."

"Oh, um…how long were you there?"

"I was here when Harry asked you to go out with him. You guys didn't notice me. Why don't you want to go out with him? We all thought you would."

"What makes everyone think I like him like that?" she snapped, Neville looked taken aback, "I'm going to bed." Hermione said and went upstairs to the girls dormitory. She went up quietly so not to wake Lavender and Parvati but she had not expected them to be waiting up for her.

The lights were on and that sat on Lavenders bed whispering and giggling with Ginny sitting at the end of the bed not joining in on the conversation. They stopped when she walked in as if they knew something. Hermione glared Ginny, "Did you tell them anything!"

"Oh she hasn't said a word," Parvati assured her, "Literally. We think we figured it all out on our own."

"Figured what out?" Hermione asked innocently.

"The love triangle," Lavender said bluntly.

"There is no triangle."

Lavender rolled her eyes, "Oh come on Hermione! Don't you ever wish you had some girlfriends you can talk to about stuff like this?"

"I have Ginny."

"You can never have too many girlfriends," Parvati told her.

"Well….It's late and we should sleep because of classes and….stuff," Hermione stammered an excuse.

"Tomorrow's Saturday, no classes," Lavender said.

"Fine, what do you know?"

"Well we notice things and form our observations we could piece it all together, Parvati explained.

"And we noticed that you have not seemed to be as interested In Harry as much this year," Lavender continued.

"Distance and un-opened," Parvati added, "But you have been acknowledging Draco Malfoy different this year."

Lavender agreed. "Different and with more interest. This is especially interesting since you spent time with him at his house this summer."

Hermione protested, "I did not spend time with him! I was a vampire and I didn't remember anything!" The other girls ignored her.

And we knew Harry as going to ask you to go out with him and Neville heard him do it so when you weren't around for us to ask we weaseled the answer out of him," Parvati said.

"How did you-"

Lavender interrupted her, "And then you left when you turned him down and just got back now. One can only assume that you are interested in Draco."

"But I-"

They laughed, "We also saw you too kissing the other day," Parvati explained. Hermione's eyes widened and she gasped, she was sure their had been no none else outside

"What!" cried Ginny, speaking for the first time since Lavender and Parvati convinced her to wait for Hermione with them, "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me? How long was it? How was it?"

Lavender and Parvati laughed again and Lavender explained, "They made out for about five minutes and she seemed to enjoy it."

Hermione shook her head, "I-"

"You didn't push away," Parvati said.

"Ok well…. so maybe I enjoyed it but-"

The three other girls screamed and laughed with excitement and then all talked at once.

"Hermione you wild girl!" Lavender cried.

"Is he a good kisser?" Parvati asked her.

"Why didn't you tell me? Ginny insisted on knowing.

Then at the same time they asked, "Is that where you were tonight?"

Hermione stared at them in shock, she hadn't expected anyone to react like this, and they all thought it was a good thing. They wanted to be her friend and talk to her about it. She had never had friends like these; friends that she could talk to about stuff like this. She found herself slowly grinning widely like a little girl. She nodded sending the other girls into another fit of excited screams and laughs.

"Shh!" Hermione whispered, though she was also giggling, "You'll wake someone up."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "These walls are sound proof. So where did you meet him."

Hermione grinned and sat down on the bed with them, "Well he's not in the slytherin dormitory anymore, he's staying in the room of requirement now."

"So you were alone with him in his room?" Parvati cried, "What happened?"

"We talked, we kissed, he told me he loved me."

They gasped, "Did you tell him that?"

"I told him first."

"Oh!" squealed Lavender, "This is soo romantic! Like Romeo and Juliet!" They giggled and continued talking through most of the night.

Girls Dormitory, 10:00 a.m.

When Hermione woke up she was still on Lavender's bed. In fact all four of them had fallen asleep curled up on the bed. Slowly she rolled off the bed and stretched before quietly dressing and leaving the room. Most of the Gryffindors were already up and in the common room and down at breakfast. When Hermione got downstairs Ron and Harry were waiting for her to go to breakfast which she agreed to right away, staying up all night made her hungry. Walking down to the great hall was silent and awkward but Hermione supposed it was more awkward for Ron, who walked in the middle of her and Harry. They sat down and ate in silence still. Hermione allowed her eyes to travel over to the slytherin table where Draco sat alone at the end. He looked sick, very pale.

"So" began Ron, hoping to break the tension, "What are we going to do today?" Before either Harry or Hermione could answer Draco got up and left the hall.

"I got to go," Hermione said and jumped up to follow Draco. "Draco!" she called when she spotted him walking towards the grand staircase. She went over to him, "Are you ok? You don't look so good."

He shrugged, "I think I'm coming down with something."

"Oh, well do you want me to come over tonight help you feel better?"

He grinned, "I would love that but I have detention tonight for going into the woods alone and I wouldn't want you to catch what I have."

"What's you detention?"

"Ironically, it's going into the woods. With Hadgrid. Again."

"Be careful, remember what happened last time you had detention in the woods?"

"Yeah, I'll be careful. I should go now, people will be coming out soon and they'll see us together."

"Ok, bye." After watching him go she turned back to the great hall but saw Ron and Harry in the doorway staring at her. She quickly turned and walked towards the library, pretending she hadn't noticed them.

Malfoy Manor, 11:00 a.m.

"Are you sure this is going to work Lucius?" Narcissa asked nervously.

"Of course it is," her husband answered curtly, "I know for a fact that he will be in the forbidden forest for detention tonight, an owl just arrived confirming it."

"What sort of trouble has he gotten himself into so early in the year?"

"I don't know but it is the perfect chance to get our son back."

"What do you think his punishment will be?"

"The dark lord said it wouldn't be severe, just enough to make sure he doesn't betray us again."

"Ok," Narcissa said apprehensively, she was still very worried.

Hogwarts, 4:00 p.m.

Hermione was able to avoid Harry and Ron all day; she spent most of it with her newly found secret-keepers. But around 4 o'clock she knew she would have to face them eventually. She put the book she was reading back in the bookshelf and left the library and made her way slowly to the Gryffindor dormitory, making sure to take the longest root possible. When she finally arrived in the common room about a half an hour later, Lavender and Parvati, who were talking to Dean and Seamus, smiled at her and she spotted Harry Ron and Ginny sitting at a table in the corner doing homework. Taking a deep breath she walked over to them.

"Hi guys," she said. Harry stood up; Hermione could tell he was mad.

"Why were you talking to Draco? And where did you go last night?"

Hermione was taken aback, she hadn't expected him to act so tartly with her, "I…I can talk to whomever I want Harry. And what do you mean where was I?"

"Last night, you left after I went to bed."

"I…I…Are you spying on me?"

"I'm worried about you Hermione!"

"Why?" She cried, "Because I wouldn't go out with you?" The whole common room had gone silent as everyone turned to watch the argument.

"Did you turn me down for him? Is that where you went last night? I don't want you to even talk to him-"

"You don't want me to talk to him? You can't tell me what to do Harry! If I want to see him then I will!"

"He's bad Hermione!"

"He saved my life this summer! You if cared for me as much as you say then that would count for something! Stop acting like some overprotective father!"

"I don't like him; he is one of my enemies, he may be on Voldemort's side and he wants me dead."

Hermione stared at him for a moment before answering, "At this point I don't care. I love him."

The silence following this statement was eerie and shocked. Nobody even moved, they just stared. Hermione looked down and found herself looking at Ginny's transfiguration book. It was opened to a page where there was a picture of an arm. On the wrist of the arm on the side of the hand's palm was a scar that was a perfect circle. Hermione closed her eyes, not wanting to look at the words on the page, afraid to look at the words on the page.

"Ginny," she whispered, "What are you reading about?"

Ginny was surprised at the question, it seemed like and odd thing to ask after that argument but she quickly recovered and answered, "Werewolves."