Draco Potter?

Chapter 9: I Hate/Love You

The rest of the lessons went by in a blur. Draco kept thinking about Hermione. He liked her so much that it hurt and he hated it. The worst part was that she liked him back.

Draco walked to the Slytherin Common Room. He was already in the dungeons when he decided he didn't feel like dealing with his fellow Slytherins, especially Pansy. He had a better idea. He went to the fifth floor. He walked past that one wall three times and thought about a room all to himself. A door appeared in the wall he walked past. Draco walked in. He saw this huge dark green room. It was gorgeous. That's what Draco loved about the Room of Requierment: it always showed you exactly what you wanted. And also: no one else could come in unless they knew exactly what you used the room for. He liked the solitude. Most of the time anyway.

He sat down in the black armchair in front of the fireplace. Once again his thoughts drifted to Hermione. He wanted to make them go away, but he couldn't. He couldn't change how he felt about her. He didn't even know her that well and yet... He just had to be with her or he'd go insane. But he couldn't. He won't let himself. Nothing but misery could come from it.

Down in the Great Hall, Hermione scanned the Slytherin table. No Draco. She started, even though she wasn't hungry. She needed disctraction. She glanced at Ron and Harry. They were talking about Quidditch. Again. It was obvious that Harry didn't even want to think about the fact that Draco was his long lost twin. Ron would probably start to care when Harry did. After all, they hated Draco.

After what seemed like the longest dinner Hermione ever had, she, ron and Harry went to the Common Room. None of them spoke. Hermione finally opened her mouth when they arrived in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady and she had to say the password. After a quick "goodnight", she retreated to her dorm. She was so tired. She didn't even bother to change into her sleeping clothes, she just crawled in her bed and fell asleep.

The next week passed pretty much the same as that day. So did the week after that and the week after that... Before they knew it, it was already halfway through October. By now, Hermione almost had full control over her powers. And they kept growing. The last time Hermione froze something, the entire floor froze. She could unfreeze certain things too. Moving things with her mind was alot easier too. She didn't really get what freezing some things/people and telepathy were good for, but it was fun if she was bored.

And Draco. In those weeks he deperately tried to supress his feelings for Hermione. That wasn't going to bad, at least until he saw her. Then it all came back and he had to fight the urge to kiss her. Hermione did the same thing, but she was even worse at it than Draco. This one fateful day her feeling got the better of her.

They had just finished lunch. The bell was gonna ring in a few minutes. Hermione walked out of the great hall with her best friends by her side. At the same moment as Draco. Ron and Harry glared at him. He glared back and ignored Hermione. That was the final straw for Hrmione. She couldn't stand another moment of this. Frustrated with Draco and especially herself, she waved her hands. Everything froze. She unfroze Draco. He was already walking up the stairs and hadn't noticed yet.

Hermione chased after him. He ignored the sound of her footsteps. It felt like it happened in slow motion. Before Hermione was aware of what she was doing, she gently wrapped her arms around him and pressed her mouth on his. In a reflex, Draco kissed her back. He placed his arms around her waist. They completely forgot about everything else.

It was undoubtly the best moment of his life and then he remembered. He remembered everything he had to go through with Rebecca. All the pain... He opened his eyes and pulled away.

"Don't", he whispered when Hermione tried to kiss him again "Don't do this to me..."

"What's wrong?", Hermione whispered concerned. She carefully let go of him.

Draco couldn't answer. He had to get away. He couldn't do this, not now. Not ever. So he ran. He wished Hermione wouldn't follow him, but of course she did.

"Draco!", she called "Please just stop. Maybe I can help". She knew these words would have no affect of them before the last words left her lips.

They ran all the way to the fifth floor. Draco ignored that everyone they passed was frozen. He lost Hermione on the last floor so he might get into his room before she caught up with him. He knew he was being stupid, but he couldn't face his pain. It was just too much. He ran in front of the wall where the door to his room led a few seconds later times and got in when Hermione reached the floor. She saw that he had almost closed the door and froze it and him. She sliped in and unfroze him. She didn't have time to be amazed by Draco's version of the Room of Requierment.

He turned around and started. He didn't even ask how she did that and desperately whispered "Please just leave me alone".

"I can't", she whispered back. She slowly walked towards him. "I like you. A lot". She blushed.

He didn't look at her. 'I hate you", he said with difficulty "i hate how you make me feel..." It was too late. He couldn't fight it anymore. His eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, Draco...", Hermione melted. That was just the sweetest thing. She wrapped her arms around him again and held him as tight and close as she could without hurting him.

'Don't be afraid", she whispered. Draco gave up. All the pain he was holding back, came out. Everything he had felt when he lost Rebecca. Only worse. Neither of them spoke. The only sound came from Draco's muffled sobs. Hermione forgot about everything else. All she cared about right now was Draco.

They slowly moved towards the bed and lay down. All they did was lay in each others arms first.

"Thank you", Draco whispered in Hermione's ear. His face was still wet from his tears. He kissed her. She kissed him back. He never wanted this moment to end.

Diclaimer: See chapter 1-5.

Authors Note: Thanks so much for all of your sweet reviews. I know it took me a little longer to finish this chapter, but I wasn't sure if our heroes would keep ignoring each other or go straight to the romance and as a true Libra it took me a week to make a decision. So I compromised. I hope you liked it. The next chapter will be longer.