A/N: So, this chapter came by quickly, didn't it? I believe it's shorter than the last two chapters, but I didn't want to add the Masquerade Ball in this chapter either. Unlike my other Draco/Hermione fictions, this one is going to go by a lot slower. Meaning their relationship won't really bloom to full bloom until later. I want this story to be a little longer than the rest. I hope I can do that. It looks better if it's taken slow, don't you agree? Well, enough of my talking, you all didn't come here to read my A/Ns, but to read this chapter, so here you go.
Waking up from his slumber, Draco looked at his watch, bleary-eyed. He wanted to go back to sleep. Eight in the morning was too early to be awake when there were no classes, but his body didn't need anymore sleep. He sighed, rolling over on his back to stare at the ceiling. "Fine…" he muttered to himself and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
Draco got out of the shower, got dressed and went down to the common room. He saw his group in the corner and headed for the entrance of the common room, hoping none of them saw him. Unfortunately, he was caught by Pansy. He groaned silently to himself.
"Hey," Pansy said quietly walking towards him. "Do you want to talk?" She walked in front of him and stopped. That stopped him. He looked at her with emotionless stone gray eyes and shook his head. "But, Draco! You have to talk about it or you'll never get over it!"
His eyes narrowed into a glare. "Talking about it won't make me forget her! And how do you know I haven't talked about it?" Draco folded his arms over his chest. She was starting to piss him off. She just didn't get it. She had no idea what if feels like to lose someone.
"So, we're not goo enough for you, is it?" asked Pansy, jumping into conclusions. She had no idea what she was talking about, nor did she care. If he was going to dump his friends, then she'd make it hurt.
"Oh, nice one Parkinson," snapped Draco. "Has I ever occurred to you that maybe I don't want to talk about anything to anyone? Especially to a fellow Slytherin who doesn't know when to shut the hell up? Has it ever occurred to you that I don't even like being here?" He shook his head and all he heard was silence. No one talked; they wanted to hear what was going on. "All of you, you disgust me. I even disgust myself. So don't think I'll spill me guts to people I can barely stand anymore. To someone who doesn't even notice something was wrong until it was too late!" Draco pushed past people that now had gathered and walked out, fuming. 'Damn her!' he thought as he went down to breakfast. 'Damn her and her meddling!'
Draco sat at the end of the Slytherin Table, distancing himself from the few Slytherins already there. He folded his arms on the table and rested his chin on his arm. There weren't many people up yet. Most of the students were still asleep. 'I want to change. I don't want to be like this, but I just can't change overnight,' Draco thought, the blinked a couple times. 'I can't change overnight…but I can at least be different tomorrow. No one would ever guess who I am. To really change though, will take a lot longer to do…I'm just glad I won't get up with a Slytherin tomorrow.'
Draco's stomach growled in hunger. He sat up and began to fill his plate with pancakes and his cup with milk. He buttered up his pancakes and poured some apple cinnamon syrup over them. He was cutting the pancakes when the rest of the Slytherins walked into the Great Hall. Each Slytherin glared at him as they would glare at a muggle-born. Draco ignored them and continued eating. Pansy stopped near him and sighed sadly. He didn't even bother to glance at her. After a moment, she walked away.
"Harry! Ron! Come on! We're going to miss breakfast!" yelled Hermione, banging on the door to their dorm.
Harry stumbled to the door, opening it tiredly. He was still in his pajamas. "Go on Hermione." He yawned.
"Oh, don't tell me. You just woke up…I've been up for an hour," Hermione shook her head at Harry's idiotic expression. She smiled. "Okay, I'll see you down in the Great Hall then." Harry nodded and closed the door as she turned around, leaving.
Hermione walked into the Great Hall and looked up at the ceiling. Dark clouds filled every inch and a light snow was falling. Hermione looked down and walked toward the Gryffindor Table, passing the Slytherin Table in the process. She passed Draco, about a foot between them, and she looked over her shoulder at him. Draco looked up and met her eyes. Time seemed to stop and everything around them seemed to vanish.
But, as soon as it happened, it was over. Hermione kept walking toward Ginny, who was calling her over. Draco looked down in his milk, swirling it around some. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. This was really taking a toll on him. Why did she affect him so much? He put his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes.
"Hermione!" Ginny called, waving her hands in the air fanatically. "Come here!"
"What is it, Ginny?" asked Hermione as she sat down next to her red headed friend.
"Have you noticed how strange Malfoy has been acting this past week?" Ginny whispered to Hermione. They both glanced at Draco and back at each other. "Do you find it odd that he's sitting by himself? He's always surrounded by his goons," Ginny paused in thought, "but these past couple days he's been distant."
"Now that you mention it, he has." Hermione looked over her shoulder at Draco again. "But, that's his problem, right? At least he hasn't taunted us all week. I'd rather be ignored then called a 'mud-blood' or something." Hermione turned around and began to eat.
Ginny shrugged. "I guess your right."
Once he was done with breakfast, Draco got up. He decided just to roam Hogwarts since he had nothing better to do. He put his hands in his coat pockets. His mind wondered and he wasn't attentive to anything around, except for walls and such. Sound was lost to him and so were other people for the moment. No sunlight came through the castle windows. Dark clouds prevented that from happening. The pictures talked among themselves, ignoring Draco.
"What's the matter, my boy?" one of the pictures decided to talk to him. Draco looked up to see the gaze of an old man. He sat in a comfy looking chair; his hands were folded neatly in his lap.
Draco narrowed his eyes at it. "What makes you think something's the matter?"
"Aren't you always with those friends of yours? Why aren't you today? I've never seen you without them," the old man told Draco.
"Keh," Draco paused. "They are not my friends." He growled at the painting.
"I didn't mean to offend you, sir."
"Do you always pry into peoples' lives?" asked Draco, still glaring at the painting.
The man shrugged. "I don't like seeing the students depressed, is all."
"I'm not depressed. I just…have a lot of my mind that's making me insane…and it's her fault!" growled Draco, getting into a rant. The old man just sat patiently, listening intently. "If she hadn't said…! If she hadn't…!" Draco stopped ranting. His eyes softened from a hard gray to a soft gray. "If she hadn't said…the things…that I wanted to hear the most…If she hadn't…comforted me when she was the one that needed it the most." He punched a bare spot on the stone wall, causing his knuckles to bleed. He wrapped his hand in his cloak, ignoring the pain. He walked away from the wall and turned to face the painting.
The old man looked at Draco. "Finished?" Draco nodded, so the old man spoke again. "This isn't something I can help you out with. Just to give you some advice: follow your heart, your mind. Choose the path that you think is the best; for yourself and for her."
Draco stared at the painting for a moment. "Keh, I have to go get this healed," Draco said as he turned around and headed for the hospital wing. 'He's just a painting. Like he knows what real people go through,' he thought angrily. 'Like he knows what emotions run through a 17-year-old.'
A/N: Yeah this one is shorter than the rest. But I was at a standstill here. I kinda wanted this chapter to focus mainly around Draco cuz the last chapters focused more on Hermione then they did on Draco. So, yeah that's why it's a little short. But oh well. I've already started chapter Five.
Oh and guess what I learned the today (1/3/06)? I can't count! (laughs) I was writing in my notebook, I had just finished this chapter, so I was going to put the next chapter on the next page and I wrote chapter 7. I get on the computer to type this chapter up and it was titled 'SNYSF4' I was like woah…so I went through my notebook and it went Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Seven. I was like, AHHH! STUPID! (laughs) well…being blond does that to one who is blond herself. But oh well. I fixed it so its all good.
Oh, I seem to be making Draco more emotional than i have read in most fanfictions. I think I like this Draco. I mean, EVERYONE is emotional no matter who they are. So...he's mostly off by himself, thinking to himself, letting no one in...except for that picture of the old man...I'm not sure if the old man will come back yet. Who knows? Maybe he will.
Well, until Chapter FIVE gets written and typed and posted
This Kiwi-san
Over and Out
