AN: here's a short little chapter. i hope you guys enjoyed the last one i posted today. i didn't want to ruin it with stupid blather though. and i don't want to ruin this one. i'll talk your ear off in the next AN, though if you want me to. the only thing that's kept me from posting is a whole 'misunderstanding' with the police... ahem and a few weeks in jail, but that's not the point. the point is that you CANNOT arrest protesters if they aren't being violent (which we weren't) or blocking traffic (which we weren't) or breaking a law (again, not happening!). then it took them a bloody 9 days to figure out that they had NO charges to hold me and my friends on, so they finally let us out.
well, i guess i used up my AN time/space. enjoy!
Chapter 21: Draco's Daddy
(Hermione's POV)
I put my hand on his shoulder. He promptly pulled away and strode quickly into the bathroom, slamming the door hard behind him.
"Alright then." I walked into the common room, picked up the magazine I had been reading and lay back, waiting for Malfoy to get out of the bathroom.
He opened the door a while later. His eyes were not red, as though he had been crying, but they did look like ice and more hateful than before. The longer I looked him in the eyes, the more I saw a scared little boy, not a defiant teenager. Malfoy just stood there, apparently unaffected by my gaze. Even I don't have mood swings as bad as this, and I'm a bloody girl!
I was the first to speak, "Are you quite finished with your little tantrum, because I really have to use the loo."
He looked at me and I swear to this day that if looks could kill, I would be an extra-concentrated ghost or something.
I got up and pushed past him, closing the door behind me.
When I had finished, I walked back out into the common room. Malfoy wasn't there. I checked his room, mine, and all of the seats. No Draco. I hadn't heard the portrait hole open or close…. I noticed that one of the windows was still open and went over. I thought I had closed them all when I got back. Guess who was outside the window? Yep…. Draco.
I stepped out onto the slippery shingles and sat next to him. We looked out at the lake and the setting sun. Well, I did. He had his head in his arms and was all hunched up with his back against the wall.
I nudged him when the sun was almost down, "Watch this."
He looked up at me, "What? Are you going to jump?"
I laughed, "You wish. I meant the sunset."
"Oh."
We sat there in silence as the sun went down and the torches in the castle were lit.
"It's my dad," Draco started.
"Mm," I muttered noncommittally.
"He's been really hard on me lately."
I didn't say anything, just let him continue.
"This necklace was given to me when I was born. He keeps telling me that some day it might be the real thing. You know…. the dark mark." He paused and looked up at the sky as though he had just realized something and was about to shout 'Eureka!'.
"And you don't want that…." it was kind of fun being in the psychologist's position for once.
"Well. I want to please my father, but I don't want to be associated with that group. I've been raised in a dark house, but sometimes I feel that it's not what I want for me. I've seen what the darkness does to you…. It's not pretty. I never want to be a bloodthirsty, greedy, selfish man that wants to destroy practically all of civilization. But he keeps me under his thumb. He won't let me go…. He wants me to be him. Lucius junior, you know? He says that I have to make good grades and keep out of trouble this year or…."
"Or what?" I prompted.
"Nothing. But his punishments are more than any person should have to endure. He was so angry when he found out that Dumbledore had put us in dorms together. But…."
"But what?" I was tired of having to yank information out of the bugger. But it was nice to hear what he had to say.
"I don't know…. I guess it's kind of nice. You know? I've gotten used to it I guess." He blushed scarlet. "You, I mean."
"Me?" I asked surprised.
"I've gotten used to you," he looked surprised as though he hadn't meant to say it.
"Huh," was all I could say. It was weird, you know?
We both sat in stunned silence.
"Dominic told me."
"About what?"
"He said that you have a thing for 'bad boys'."
I laughed, "You believe him?"
"He said you like me…." he turned to look at me. His eyes focused on mine, his look as though he was trying to figure me out, like it was crucial that he knew if Dominic had been right.
I laughed again. "Malfoy. I like a lot of people, 'kay? Doesn't mean you're special or anything."
He turned away and looked back at the lake. "So you do fancy me…. Right?"
"What, are you looking for a written confession, Malfoy?"
"No…. It's just…." he seemed a bit unnerved. "I just want to know…."
"The truth is…. I fancy you, but I don't like you one single bit."
"That makes no sense whatsoever, Granger."
"But it is comforting, though, right?" I smiled. I didn't like him. Of course I fancied him, like almost every other girl in the castle, but I didn't like him. 'There is a difference,' I reassured myself.
All of a sudden, Malfoy started laughing beside me. "I swear, if women weren't so complicated, men would have nothing to live for. We'd have nothing to figure out!"
"Oh. Ha ha. Now I'm a joke, am I? And don't call me a woman…." I paused, thinking about what he'd said. "And what is this 'we'? You're not a man, just a little boy with a big ego."
"Hmph," was all he could reply with.
