"Hey, Granger," he raised his eyebrows upon examining her. "Bit of trouble at the lake?"
Hermione seemed to be struggling to keep her cool. "Ginny pushed me in," she attempted a smile, to show her adversary that it was all in good fun, but she read the look on his face as he straightened. He looked severely…interested.
"Did she now? Isn't that interesting…"
"She pushed Ron in too," she added. "I was just going to get dried off before supper," she didn't know why she was talking to him.
"Probably the best idea," he smirked. "What did you do to the Weasley?"
It took Hermione a second to catch what he meant, and when she did she frowned. "We don't all feel the need for revenge, Malfoy. Some of us are better than that."
She eyed him haughtily as she walked passed him, stopping only when he called out her name. She spun around. "What?"
He walked up to her quickly, making many different expressions at once. "I…uh, that is to say…Merlin," he growled at his lack of speech abilities.
"Malfoy," he looked into her eyes and found understanding and pity. She placed a hand on his shoulder softly. "I know it's hard…with the war and all…which is why…plus I mean...I'm with Ron and…" she sighed. "You know how it feels to not be able to have someone that you want," she stated.
He stood silent, as if made of stone. Hermione could see she needed to further elaborate.
"I mean…you know how it feels so…why let someone else go through that?" They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, and Draco nodded.
Hermione turned and began to walk away once more.
"Where—"
"Library," she called back.
o-O-o-O-o-O-o
Ginny searched for the book she needed for her essay and found it on the top shelf. Sighing at her bad luck, she jumped up. She didn't get the book. She did, however, manag to knock off four other ones, one of which slammed down unto her head. She rubbed it and glanced to the ground at the assaulting book, thanking Merlin that it had been relatively thin.
Her head began to throb, and she clutched it with one hand as she jumped once more. Knocking two more books down. She dodged to the side as they fell.
When she discovered they also were not the book she wanted, she growled in frustration and kicked the bookshelf. "Bloody piece of stupid—" kick "Pince put the stupid" kick "book on the stupid" kick "highest shelf!" She kicked it harder this time, causing even more books to fall down around her. When she was sure Pince wasn't aware of the commotion, she looked up. The last book that remained on the shelf sat staring at her: Most Potente Potions. "ARGH!"
"Having trouble?"
Ginny spun around, attempting to calm herself. The humiliation from earlier and complete hopelessness that plagued her attacked her mind once again, and she found herself struggling to keep tears from her eyes. She was in love with Malfoy, who had already turned her away, she couldn't get her stupid essay done, and now he found her here, is a mess of books, taking out her frustration on a helpless bookshelf.
All of the frustration and desperation she felt flooded up to her throat. "The bloody book," she stated softly, pointing helplessly at the top shelf. She saw the book in front of her, in Malfoy's hand, and tears filled her eyes so much she could barely even read the title. "Thank you."
He lifted her chin, examining her. "Calm down then. It's just a book," he soothed her upon seeing her tear-filled eyes; but he knew why the tears were there. He began to walk away and turned back casually, walking over to her once more. He pulled out his wand and muttered a spell; the books replaced themselves save the one in Ginny's limp grasp. "Say, I thought on it and I decided, what harm could it do? I mean…things are going to change…but that doesn't mean that we can't keep them normal until they do…" he suggested.
Ginny gave him a weak smile and met his gaze. "Things have already changed," she noted.
He followed her back to her table and sat down, giving her a pointer for her essay. He watched her as she wrote, the both of them silent, until boredom took him and he decided to say it after all.
"Saw what you did to Granger," he stated. Ginny looked up, an alarmed look passing across her face. "Good job," he smirked.
Ginny gave him a dazzling smile, looking down to her essay then back to his eyes. "Things have changed a lot."
o-O-o-O-o-O-o
For a one-shot this thing sure does have a few chapters…hmm…but this is definitely the end of this one, I've got other stuff to work on. Just thought I'd pull a happy ending with hope for the both of them.
