Chapter 6: Behind These Hazel Eyes

Disclaimer: Am I rich? Nope. Was I a single mom? Not that I was aware of. Am I JK? Nope. Do I own Potter & Co? No.

It had been a few weeks since the incident in the Head's Common Room. Ron had improved, well almost. Hermione looked happy, well she tried to. And as of last week Hermione and Ron were newest couple to come from Hogwarts. The entire school thought they were the cutest couple, well except to him. They always held hands; Ron always whispered sweet nothings into her making her giggle; soft kisses placed on cheeks; and smiles every time their eyes met. Everyone was fooled, but not Draco. He knew better. He saw the fakeness in her laugh, he noticed that she flinched when Ron touched her, and he alone saw how many packs of cigarettes she went through in a day. He wasn't too happy about it either.

Maybe, he was noticing things he shouldn't have. Maybe, he was caring a little bit more than he should have. No, he was definitely noticing more than he wanted too, or needed to. Then again, since last year he always cared more than he should have. The saddest part to him was that he was envious of the relationship. In fact he was pissed about it and he couldn't really figure out why. At the least thought she was keeping her promise and making sure that Ron stayed out of the commons.

Draco and Hermione hadn't really talked to each other outside of Head Duties. It was embarrassment that kept her from even looking at him, and he was just too proud to ever admit he cared. They often enough were able to patrol with one of the prefects, but Dumbledore decided the Heads' needed to get along better. So Head Boy and Head Girl had to patrol hallways together. When informed of the change Hermione merely nodded and left. Draco, on the other hand, protested and lost.

Tonight was the first day that the new orders were being carried out. At 9:30PM Draco was in the Common Room ready to go. His prefect partner, Blaise, and he always liked to start early and finish early. But he didn't expect Head Girl to fall for that, so he sat and waited. He stared into the fire. Waiting, waiting, waiting…then the clocked chimed 10 o'clock. She was late. He never knew Hermione Granger to be late. But he waited even longer. Finally, with a huff, he knocked on the girl's door. No response. Slowly, he cracked open the door, making sure there was no disagreeable activities going on. But, no he was greeted with a still silence.

"Where the hell is she?" He slammed the door and stormed out the door. "She probably lost track of time in that damned library!" He headed to the library with a quick pace and an attitude. He threw open the door startling a few stragglers left in the library. For the most part it was quite, there was a slight whisper of those trying to discuss a group project and a small sound of people flipping pages. Everyone knew they were out past curfew, but none expected the Head Boy himself to check the library. Lucky for them, Draco was feeling very generous today, "You've got 15 minutes, then back to your common room!"

It seemed the room let out a collective sigh and then went right back to work. Whispers and flipping pages filled the room again. Draco went to the back of the library that was secluded for Heads and Prefects alone. Not to his surprise, there she was sitting peacefully in some surreal bliss. He was a bit jealous when he noticed she had headphones on. He had tired for a year to get his to work, and had no luck.

Her back was to him, paying him no attention. Not that she ever really did, only when he gave her reason to. He went through all the horrible things he could do to her while her back was too him. At the same time he couldn't actually do any of it. So he settled for a light tug at her hair. She jumped out her seat dropping her books and CD player that had been sitting in her lap. She looked flushed and, almost scared.

"Merlin, I thought you were Ron!" She said slightly breathlessly.

"Do I look poor and stupid?" He said snarkily.

"You're an ass. You'll never be half the man Ron is!" She tried to defend Ron before she realized Malfoy knew. He knew all of it, so it was pointless to pretend.

"You're right I'm twice the man he is. It's not hard. Not even I hit women, Granger. But still I'm the asshole, right?"

Hermione simply growled in frustration. "What do you want anyway Malfoy?"

Draco tapped the watch on his wrist. "You're late for an important date Granger."

She started laughing at him. Who would have ever thought they would have heard Draco Malfoy quote Alice in Wonderland? Certainly not her. "I'm sorry. I guess I lost track of time."

"You just guess huh?"

"I said I was sorry." She started picking up her belongings and placing them in her bag. She was rushing and trying to hurry up.

"Granger, I have a life and you are severely fucking with my schedule. Not all of us spend our lives in the library or getting beat by their significant other." Hermione gasped loudly at the last comment and lost her temper. In one quick motion the reading book that was supposed to go in her bag went flying at Draco's face. He didn't really have time to react, and as he tried to dodge the book it hit him in the eye.

"Fuck!" He held his hand over her eye. "That was completely unnecessary."

Hermione did feel guilty about hurting him, but it was a paperback book it couldn't have hurt that much. "No it was completely necessary. What you said was unnecessary! You had no right to go there. Now come here and let me fix your eye before I get in trouble."

For some strange reason he went over to her. He listened to a mudblood, how strange. She instructed him to sit. When she glanced at for a moment then smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow!"

"You are such a drama queen! There's nothing there. You're acting as if I knocked your fucking eyeball out."

"You could have."

"But I didn't!"

"But you could have."

"Whatever I apologized. Let's go."

"No."

"No?"

"No!"

"No what?"

"We're not leaving until I get a proper apology. Because you in fact did not apologize." She started putting her things in her bag again as she shook her head in aggravation.

"Well? I'm waiting."

She hitched her bag on her back and grabbed her water bottle. She looked at the water bottle for a second, and then glanced over at Draco. "Heads up." Tossing the bottle lightly to the Head Boy.

"What the hell?"

"You'll be waiting here for a while, probably forever. So that's in case you get thirsty. Have fun." He couldn't believe her. She was walking away from him. Nobody ever walked away from him. With a few long, quick steps he grabbed her and slammed her against a wall near by. There was evident fear in her eyes. Immediately he felt a small amount of guilt sweep through him. This must have been all too familiar to her.

"I said I want an apology." He growled.

"And I said no!" Defiance was in her voice. 'Why can't I stand up to Ron like this?' She thought to herself. There was fear in her eyes. As much as she wanted to fight, Hermione was scared. Malfoy knew her secret and probably knew she was scared shitless right now.

"Don't ever walk away from me when I'm talking to you. Understand?" Tears were now forming behind her hazel eyes. But she would not cry, not again. She nodded slightly and closed tight her eyes in fear of the tears falling. Draco however did not let go of her like she had hoped he would.

Draco took in every detail of her face. From the curly, brown strands of hair covering the one side her face to the light pink soft lips that her remembered well to the heavy coat of foundation underneath her eyes. That didn't sit well with Draco. The heavy amount of make-up seemed out of place on the seemingly all-natural girl that stood in front of him. He would expect it from Lavender, Parvati, hell even Pansy, but never from Hermione. Slowly he brought one the hands that was holding Hermione against the wall to her face. She looked so delicate that he was afraid to touch her in fear of shattering something so breakable.

When his finger connected with her cheek she flinched in fear and pain. Draco noted that she didn't make a sound or open her eyes. He gentle wiped away the flesh colored powder that covered her cheek and under eye. The skin underneath the make-up was a mixture of purple, blue, and yellow and it was slightly swollen. Unknowingly he had a sharp intake of breathe.

"I thought that already healed by now." Hermione's eyes remained closed. Her breathing was shallow and labored. Draco Malfoy knew way more than he should. "It's been, what, a month?" She nodded slightly. "You could have used a concealing charm or a healing charm." He said so softly it scared her.

"I did, I am. I just can only use some many before they start canceling each other out." Her eyes cracked open slightly, she was still afraid to see the look on his face. To her surprise it was soft and worried. Why? She didn't exactly know but she was comforted by the fact that he wouldn't hurt her. Hopefully.

"That bad?" She nodded. "Are they new?" She sighed and looked downward at his chest. She didn't know what to say. She was so afraid that he would tell someone and she didn't know why she was scared that someone would know. Maybe it would be a good thing. But she knew Ron would get in trouble and she didn't want that for her best friend.

"We have to patrol." She tried pushing him away hoping he would get the point that this wasn't something that she wanted to discuss. Now or ever. He didn't budge.

"Do you want me to heal you?" He said it so sincerely, like he actually cared. It made her sick.

"No. Now get off me." Fighting Hermione was back. Draco had had his look at her weakness now she was ready to fight back. The kindness that had entered his face moments ago was quickly gone and replaced with an annoyed look.

"Fine, but you might want to cover it up again. It looks hideous." She scowled at him and took her compact out. 'This is going to be a long night, 'she thought as she reapplied the cover up.

A/N: This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I felt if I put the rest of what I had planned into this chapter it would have been just too much. So I just cut off the other stuff and made it into another chapter. So needless to say I'm sorry it took me so long. A lot of stuff has been going on. I have the two other chapters written and the rest of the story planned. I actually I have several ways the story could go.

Poll: Should I involve children in this story?

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Love,

Lady in the Blue Dress