Chapter 5 (Confrontation)
"Did you like what you did, Hermione? Were you satisfied? You can do more… You can do anything…" Once again Raine was taunting her. Provoking Hermione to do something bad and today, Raine succeeded.
Hermione kept on replaying the incident that happened a while ago in her mind. She couldn't believe what she just did. 'No, what Raine did,' she thought, 'or was it I who did it? Was it my fault?' She needed help badly but whom could she trust? Hermione couldn't bring herself to tell Harry and Ron about her predicament. She didn't want to be a burden to them and have them worry over her own problems. Raine will know if she did and if anyone interferes, he or she will suffer, that was part of the plan.
"Hermione, you're not touching your food. What's wrong?" Harry's eyes were full of concern. They were in the great hall with the others, eating dinner. Harry noticed that Hermione was staring off to space. It was as if she was not there at all. It was driving him and Ron crazy. They knew something has happened. 'But what could it be?' he thought.
Hermione looked at Harry and Ron. 'They really care about me,' this thought made her want to cry. 'If only they knew…'
Meanwhile, in the Slytherin Table…
"Hey Draco, are you going to eat those muffins that came with your soup?" Crabbe said while munching on his own food.
He and Goyle never had an end to their appetite. And now they were fighting on who gets to eat Draco's muffins.
"I should get the muffins because I saw it first and besides you're overweight while I am physically fit." Crabbe said proudly while flexing his muscles.
"Yeah right," Goyle said sarcastically, "You mean physically fat! Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? Or better yet, have you even stepped on a weighing scale before? Coz you know, you should!"
"Why you…"
"Pig! Pig! Pigg! Piggg! Piiiigggg!"
"Aaarrggh!"
"Oink! Oink! Oinnnkkk!"
"That's it man! YOU are going dowwwnnnn!"
"Will you two shut your freaking mouths up? First of all, there are two muffins so why don't you just quit talking and share! Second, you two don't need to compare and argue over your weights. You're both overweight so it's more of a tie really!" Draco was in a bad mood and it didn't help seeing his two so-called friends fighting over a small matter.
Crabbe and Goyle both noticed that Draco was getting more and more irritated by the minute and so they decided to do what he told them to and that is, to keep their mouths shut.
Draco didn't know how to react. He was angry yet at the same time he was intrigued, curious as to what Hermione was up to. Besides, he has to be on top of everything and there's not a single weird situation in his life that he didn't get to the bottom of. Surely, this was one of those situations.
Hermione decided that she could not stay there much longer and so she wanted to go back to the girl's dormitories to rest.
"You guys, I'm tired. I'm going to bed now. I'll go ahead ok?" she said as she stood up and slid back the chair to its proper place.
Just as she was about to leave, Ron took hold of her right arm and said sheepishly, "Good night Hermione. Take care of yourself. A lot of people care about you. We know we do."
"Yeah, and don't you ever forget that ok?" Harry added, grinning.
Hermione smiled, "Thanks you guys. I also feel the same way…"
Draco was staring lazily at his friends who were wolfing down on his food when his eyes caught Hermione stand up and got out of the great hall. 'Where is she going? It's too early to go to bed. Hah! She thinks she can get away with what she did to me? Think again, mudblood.' He scoffed at the thought. And so he stood up and walked in the same direction where Hermione went, leaving Crabbe and Goyle eating with what's left of his food. He saw her go up the grand staircase in a hurry. He wanted to catch her by surprise but the only way he could do that was if she doesn't see him following her.
She was walking so fast. He couldn't catch up. Suddenly, she stopped. "Come out from where you're hiding. I know you're following me. Show yourself!"
'No point in hiding,' Draco showed himself and sighed. He started walking towards Hermione and stopped a foot away from her, looking at her with piercing eyes.
"So Malfoy, why are you following me? Is it because you want to badger me or is it just your thing to go on sneaking around people and minding their own business? Coz you know I wouldn't be surprise to see you annoy people since it's your favorite past time!" She said angrily.
"Easy… Easy… I'm not the one who destroyed a project in herbology and had someone else took the blame for it!" He hissed while taking one step forward so that Hermione was forced to step backward until her back made contact with the wall.
She had never been this close to him. She could feel his breath on her face, making her feel very uneasy. He was tall and so he was looking down on her. She could smell his cologne, a scent so mild yet fragrant and manly. 'Probably expensive too…' She felt shivers going down her spine.
"Well… I umm… I…" Hermione's voice was quivering. She knew it was true but still, it wasn't her fault! It was Raine. This was unfair! She thought.
She was having a hard time speaking especially since he was standing so close to her. It didn't help that he had an attractive face.
Draco pinned Hermione against the wall, holding back her arms at both sides. She tried twisting her arms around but his grip on them were very strong. She tried to look around for an escape route but failed miserably. Finally, she gave up and stared back at Draco determinedly.
Draco smirked. "You trying to escape?" He said, tightening his grip on her arms. Hermione flinched in pain.
"Be careful you filthy little mublood! Watch yourself. Coz I'm not gonna stand here having you doing things like that to me again. I'm the only one who can do that," he sneered, "no one, not even you, only me." He was enjoying the effect he had on her.
"Get your dirty hands off of me!" She shrieked and with that she pushed Draco away with enough force that she could muster. Now that she was free, she ran as fast as her feet could carry her leaving Draco smirking.
