A/N- You will find out in this chapter or chapter nine about why Ron is mad at Hermione and being so mean to her.
Chapter Eight: Why can't I smile?
The weekend, for Draco and Hermione was quite hectic. They had to think of an idea for the school dances coming up, the closest one being the Halloween dance, on the thirty-first!
"So, it's a formal dance, then?" Hermione clarified, while sitting cross-legged on the floor, a piece of parchment on the floor in front of her, and Draco sitting next to her.
"Yeah, what's the harm, besides; Pansy would kill me if I didn't get it to be a formal."
Hermione laughed, "Oh, we can't have that, now, can we?"
"You think that's funny?" Draco said, cocking an eyebrow at Hermione.
"Yes, I think that is funny!" Hermione said, eyeing Draco.
Draco just smirked, "well, ha ha!"
Hermione smiled at him, then looked down at the parchment in front of her, "So, a formal. What kind of decorations?"
"Floating candles, and Jack-o-lanterns, black, and orange table cloths, stuff like that." Draco said, as Hermione wrote it all down on the parchment.
"Okay, got it!" Hermione announced, as she stopped writing, "Now, what about music?"
"I never really listen to much music," Draco admitted to Hermione.
"Well, I promised a couple of the Prefects that we would play some muggle music, that okay?"
"Yeah, I guess."
Hermione smiled at Draco, who only smirked back.
"I think we should let the prefects have some say in the music, so let's wait till we have a prefects meeting, to decide the music, okay?"
"Yeah, whatever,"
"Okay, so I think all we need now, is a theme." Hermione said, scanning the parchment in front of her.
"Okay, what should it be?"
"Well, we already decided that it's a formal dance, so," Hermione thought for a moment, "Wait, how about semi-formal, and do the dress up thing, you know, costumes and such."
"Not the worst idea."
Hermione smiled, "Okay, then, I guess we're done, for now."
"Yeah," Draco said, "should we go to Dumbledore's office, now?"
"No, let's wait till we have everything." Hermione answered, "If that's okay with you."
"That's fine," Draco said.
"So," Hermione said, rolling up the parchment, "What now?"
"Food,"
Hermione laughed.
"What? I'm hungry!"
"Okay then, to the kitchenette!" Hermione declared, raising to her feet and walking over to the kitchenette.
Just as Draco had gotten up, someone knocked on the portrait door.
Draco and Hermione looked at each other for a moment, then Hermione called, "Who is it?"
"Harry."
Draco glanced at Hermione; she looked slightly worried. He turned and went to sit on the couch. Hermione, slowly, walked over to the portrait hole, and opened it. Harry walked in and looked around, he spotted Draco within an instant, and his face became hard as stone.
"Mind leaving?" Harry asked Draco loathingly.
"Yes, I do mind." Draco said, standing up.
"Well, tough luck, you're leaving whether you like it, or not!" Harry spat.
"Really," Draco asked, getting to his feet.
"Yes," Harry clarified, taking a step towards Draco, but Hermione stepped in front of him, "Hermione, move."
"No."
"Hermione!"
"No, I'm not moving."
Harry shot a death glare at Draco, then turned around, and made his way up the stairs to Hermione's bedroom door, "Then, can we at least go to your room, so we can…talk."
Hermione was quite for a moment, what does he want talk about? That was the one question that went through Hermione's head, as she climbed the stairs to where Harry stood, she opened her bedroom door and entered, Harry followed her in.
Once Harry was inside, Hermione quietly shut the door behind her, and sat down on her bed, and looked at Harry, who was pacing her room.
"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked.
Harry paced for a few more seconds then stopped and turned to look at Hermione, "Ron."
Hermione's face became stiff, "What about him?"
"He is sorry, Hermione." Harry explained, "He was almost in tears yesterday!"
"So, what?" Hermione spat, "If he's sorry, then he should come and apologize himself!"
"I knew you'd say that," Harry said.
"Then, you know that I'm not going to forgive him."
"Yeah, I kind of figured that, as well." Harry admitted, running a hand through his hair.
"Then why in bloody hell did you come here for?"
"Ron made me, I told him that you probably wouldn't forgive him unless he apologized himself, but he wouldn't listen. Please, Hermione, just talk to him at least?" Harry begged.
"No."
"What?"
"No, I'm not going to talk to Ron, and, frankly, I don't really want to talk to you right now, either. So, if you don't mind, please leave."
Harry stood there in shock, "What? Hermione?"
"Just go! Harry, please, just go away. I want to be alone right now, please." Hermione said earnestly.
"Whatever, "Harry said with a sigh, then turned and left the room, leaving a very annoyed Hermione alone in her room.
Hermione flopped back on her bed and wondered what did I just do?
There was a soft knock on Hermione's door, and Draco's head appeared, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"What happened?"
"Harry wants me to talk to Ron."
"And you call him your friend?"
"Depends, do you mean Harry or Ron?"
"Both, I guess."
"Harry is my friend, but I'm not at all to sure about Ron, though."
"Your not sure, are you serious? He says that to you, and you're not sure?"
Hermione gave Draco a look, and he then clued into what she meant be it, "Okay, bad example."
"No, it's not a bad example really, it's just you shouldn't be the one to bring it up, since you called me mudblood for six years."
"Speaking of which, I'm really sorry about that." Draco apologized to Hermione.
"I know you are."
Draco smirked; why can't I smile?
"Um, are you okay?"
Draco looked at Hermione in puzzlement, "What do you mean?"
"Well, you seem, kind of, out of it."
"I do?"
"Yeah,"
"I don't know, maybe I'm just tired."
"Maybe," Hermione said, not sounding at all too sure, so Draco walked over to her and gave her a small hug.
"I'll be fine," Draco assured her, releasing her.
"Okay."
Draco turned and left the room.
Draco woke up on Monday morning feeling incredibly at ease. He dashed downstairs, in his pain black boxers, and walked over to the brunette who was in the kitchenette getting her cat his food, dressed in a bathrobe and her pyjama's, he could see the pant legs from where the robe stopped just above her knees.
"Hey!" Draco greeted.
Hermione jumped, and turned, "Oh, Draco, hey."
"You're jumpy, what's up?" Draco asked taking the plate of eggs, bacon, and potatoes that was on the counter beside Hermione and walking over to a near by table and sofa.
"Hey, that's mine." Hermione shouted, "Get your own."
"I suck at cooking, and this looks so appetizing!" Draco declared.
"I know you suck at cooking, so I made extra, all you got to do is put it on a plate, and eat it, and I'm sure you can handle that." Hermione said.
"Yeah, but I have a plate of delicious food right in front of me." Draco smirked with his comment.
Hermione grabbed a pillow out of one of the armchairs near her and hurled it at Draco, who caught it and then sat on it, "Thank you, the floor is kind of hard."
Hermione rolled her eyes, but a smile danced across her face.
She smiling again, Draco noted as he watched Hermione scoop some eggs, bacon, and hash browns, from a pan on the stove, onto a plate. She walked over to him and sat down, cross-legged, beside him. He continued to watch Hermione as she speared some eggs with her fork, and brought it up to her mouth. I never knew Hermione wore lip-gloss, Draco thought as he watched Hermione's lips shimmer in the sunlight that was pouring in from the balcony windows.
"What are you looking at?" Hermione asked, after she had swallowed her first bite of egg.
"Huh? What?" Draco asked, his eyes snapping from the Hermione's mouth to her eyes, "Um, nothing, why do you ask?"
"No reason."
Draco turned, without a response, back to his breakfast. He took a bite of bacon that wasn't half bad, and then turned back to Hermione, "You're not a bad cook."
"Thanks," Hermione replied, "my mom taught me."
"So, I'll take a stab in the dark here, and say that your mom's a good cook, too?"
"Yeah, she's the best!" Hermione exclaimed, smiling broadly, making Draco's eyes fall to her lips once more, "She fantastic at cooking. She can cook, both, French, and Italian, cuisine!"
Draco didn't reply; he was drawn in by the little dot of moisture that was resting on Hermione's bottom lip.
"Um, Draco?"
No reply, Draco only watched as the bead of moisture quivered with the movements of Hermione's lips.
"Draco?"
No reply, still. Hermione then broke his trace by curling her lips in on each, and his gaze snapped to her face once more, "What were you saying?"
"I was asking you what you were staring at."
Draco winced, Hermione's voice sounded angry, and so did her eyes. She knew where he had been looking, and probably thought that he was a total perverted jackass!
"Hermione, please don't look at me like that," Draco pleaded; hating the look of loathing that he was receiving from her.
"Then don't look at me like that!" Hermione retorted, hotly.
"I didn't mean to, honest."
"Yeah, right, this is exactly why I didn't want to trust you in the first place! Do you ever think of anything besides snogging?"
"What, Hermione?" Draco said in a loud, but soft voice.
"Just, leave me alone, Malfoy!" Draco cringed deeply at the use of his last name by Hermione. Hermione ignored the cringe, and swiftly turned on her heels and marched up to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.
What the bloody hell just happened? Draco asked himself the same question again, and again, as he made his way up the stairs. Well, if I can't answer that question, I'll get her to answer it for me. Draco knocked on Hermione's door, and called, "Hermione! Hermione! What the bloody hell is wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? Like you don't know! You think you can just pretend to be my 'friend' just so you can get me to be your next snog! Go to HELL, Malfoy!"
"Hermione, what are you talking about? Hermione! Open the door!" Draco shouted.
"I said, GO AWAY!" Hermione yelled.
Draco stood there for a second wondering if he should just break the bloody down, but thought better of it and turned towards his room.
Once in his room he changed into his school robes and then went back out to the common room. He saw his, and Hermione's unfinished breakfast plates on the table by the fire, he sighed then picked them up and took them to the counter by the sink in their kitchenette. Draco then turned and made his way out of the Heads' Common room, and down to the Great Hall.
When he reached the Great Hall, he made his way over to his friends at the Slytherin table. He sat down between Blaise and Pansy, who latched onto his arm as fast as she could; Draco groaned.
"So, how was the Mudblood, Draco?" Blaise asked him.
Draco glared at his best friend "Don't ask."
"Oh," Blaise said, winking at Draco, "I gotcha."
"What the hell do you mean by that?" Draco mimicked Blaise's wink back to him.
"Well, you gotten almost every other girl in school, even a mudblood girl would be mark against you."
"Shut up, Blaise, I'm not going to go and snog the mudblood like she's never been before!"
"Then can I?" Blaise asked a sickening glint in his eye.
Draco's head snapped around to look at Blaise, "WHAT?"
"Geez, Draco, chill, man!" Blaise said, "I just thought that if you weren't going to take advantage of the mudblood, then I could."
"Well, you can't!" Draco shouted in an under tone.
Blaise eyed him suspiciously, "Draco, why don't you want the mudblood?"
"Um," Draco hesitated, and then answered, "She's a mudblood!"
"So was that Ravenclaw you did over the summer." Blaise countered.
"Yeah, so? Granger's is the mudblood, Potter's mudblood. Favourite student of the old bat, and fool, (A/N-"old bat" is Professor McGonagall, and "old fool" is Professor Dumbledore) mudblood," Draco shot back, "so, don't touch her."
"Whatever." Blaise said, shrugging.
Draco turned and stole a glance at the Gryffindor table, he immediately spotted the brown haired Head Girl among them; she was in deep conversation with Potter. Draco's insides squirmed at the sight. Draco's eyes then fell upon a certain red head about ten seats away from Hermione. The Weasel was watching Hermione and Potter with cold eyes, then, out of the blue, his eyes locked on Hermione and Potter, stood up and started towards them. Draco mind and body lunged into action.
"Damn, I forgot I have a Heads meeting with Granger this morning, I have to go." Draco said, hurriedly, to his friends, then, after peeling Pansy off his arm semi-dashed to the Gryffindor, only to realize that he wasn't going to get there before the Weasel. Thinking quickly he slowed his pace down, he didn't want the red head, or Scarface, to figure out what he was doing. Draco kept his eyes on the Weasel as he approached Hermione and Scarface. It took now more then about two seconds before all hell broke loose.
Hermione huffed and looked away from Ron, who suddenly lunged at her, Harry hurtled himself in front of Hermione, blocking Ron's path to her. Ron lashed out trying desperately to get at Hermione, who had backed up into the person beside her, which happened to be Neville.
Everyone, except the teachers, of course, in the Great Hall were throwing fists left, and right. Draco even got a hit to the side of his head by a sixth year Ravenclaw. Draco shoved the kid forcefully back into a group of his fellow Ravenclaw's, and then set off at a run to help Hermione out of the eye of this hurricane of fists.
Ron, literally flung Harry off of him into the Ravenclaw table beside them, then charged at Hermione who ducked just in time to avoid Ron's, she stood up quickly, as Ron straighten up ready to throw another punch at her, suddenly Harry launched himself at Ron, knocking him to the ground.
Harry then yelled at Hermione, "Get out of here, go to your common room and don't you dare move from it!"
Hermione just nodded and ran as fast as she could past Harry, who was struggling to hold Ron back from knocking her out cold, towards the Entrance Hall.
Just as she passed the chaos of Harry, and Ron, Hermione tripped and fell flat on her face; she could hear Professor McGonagall, as well as other teachers' voices, behind her. Hermione looked around to see what she had tripped over, only to find that she hadn't tripped, Ron had lunged out and grabbed her by the ankle, a wicked, yet immensely angry, expression spread across his freckled face.
"Damn you, Hermione! I said I was sorry! What the bloody hell is wrong with you?"
The comment by the Weasel was so idiotic, and pathetic, that Draco, who was now trying to manoeuvre his way through the crowd of people who had now noticed the hectic scene at the Gryffindor table, almost laughed out loud.
Draco swivelled his head so that he could see Hermione, but no matter which way his head turned, he couldn't see her. Did she leave? Draco thought, looking back towards the Entrance Hall doorway. No, Draco reasoned, turning back to look for her, I would have seen her. Then, Draco spotted her, lying flat on her stomach, her ankle in the grasp of the Weasel. Draco's face hardened, as he watched the Weasel try to get out of the hold of Potter. Quick as a flash, Draco whipped out his wand and pointed it towards Ron, "Pitrificus Totalus," Draco muttered.
Draco saw Ron's body freeze under his spell, without caring who saw him, he dashed forward, grabbed Hermione by the forearms, and lifted her to her feet, after he pried the Weasel's hand off her ankle, as the teachers tried to calm the students. Then, taking Hermione's hand in his, he led her through the Great Hall to the Entrance Hall and up to the Heads common room.
Once Draco reached the Head's common room, Hermione's hand still in his, he led her to the couch, and sat her down on it, then, speaking so softly to her he didn't even recognize his own voice, he said, "Are you alright?"
Hermione looked up at him, but she didn't say a word.
"Hermione, please, talk to me." Draco, almost, begged, but then he noticed something bright red in colour, running down the left side of Hermione's prefect face. "Hermione, you're bleeding!"
"I'm fine!" Hermione said, looking away, while she slapped his away from her face.
"No, you're not, Hermione!" Draco corrected her, alarm rising in his voice, he reached up again to see the gash that was on the side of her head; this time she didn't slap his hand away.
"Owww," Hermione said, wincing, as Draco touched her head.
"Sorry, it don't look to bad," Draco, said, but when Hermione tried to stand up to go to her room, added, "But I think you should go see Madame Pomfrey, just in case."
"You just said yourself that it's not that bad."
"So, I'm not a professional, I can't tell whether or not you have a concussion."
"I don't have a concussion."
"You're not a professional, either!"
Hermione opened her mouth to replied, but closed it a moment later, defeated, opening her mouth again, she said, "Alright, you win, but I'm waiting for Harry to come by first, he told me not to leave here."
"But you hurt!" Draco half shouted at her.
"So are you!" Hermione shouted.
Draco raised a hand to the side of his face, where that sixth year Ravenclaw had punched him.
"Yeah, and I'll be going to the hospital wing, too! Now, please Hermione, come on!"
"I'm not leaving without Harry knowing!"
"Then I'll tell him where you went, just, please, Hermione, go to Madame Pomfrey's. Please!"
Hermione gave Draco an odd look, and then looked down at her lap, and said, "Would you really tell him, without any snappy remarks?"
"If you'll go to Madame Pomfrey's if I do, yes, I'll tell him," Hermione looked up at him, and he added, "without any of the snappy remarks."
Hermione just looked at him for a moment, then, without even realizing she was doing it wrapped her arms around Draco's waist, and gave him a hug.
She's hugging me, I can't believe it, Draco thought, as he looked down at Hermione. She pulled back a few moments later, and stood up.
"Okay, I'll go to Madame Pomfrey. Just, so long, as you promise to tell Harry, without the snappy remarks."
"I promise."
Hermione gave Draco a small smile, and then made her way from the Heads common room, closing the portrait hole behind her.
I wonder if she will be alright…Draco thought suddenly. He stood up, and made to follow Hermione, but then his promise to stay here and tell Potter swam into his mind. Draco stood there staring at the back of the portrait hole, thinking, becoming more, and more, worried for Hermione's safety with every passing minute.
"I've got it!" Draco exclaimed to himself, aloud; he dashed forward and swung the portrait door opened stepped out, and turned around.
"Hey!" Draco snapped at his portrait, which had been in the middle of snogging Hermione's portrait, "Um…me. I want you to go follow Hermione, the real one, make sure she doesn't get hurt, okay?"
"Right away, can't leave a beauty in distress, can we!" And with that, Draco's portrait self hurried out of the portrait and into the one beside it, and then, the one beside that one, and so on.
"Thank you!"
Draco took his eyes away from the spot he had last seen his portrait self disappear, and turned towards the voice. He saw the portrait Hermione looking at him with sparkling eyes.
He smirked, and said, "Your welcome."
Draco went back inside the Heads common room; he sat down on the couch by the fireplace that was empty, and cold. He didn't know how long he sat there, but he didn't move an inch until he heard a knock on the portrait door. He stood up and rushed to the door, hoping it was Hermione, back from the Hospital Wing, completely healed, and all right.
Draco opened the door, only to find, not Hermione, but Harry Potter standing before him. Without a word, Draco stepped back, so that Potter could pass him, and enter the Heads common room.
"Where's Hermione?" Potter asked, after looking around.
"Hospital Wing." and that was all that Draco said in reply.
"She was supposed to stay here."
"And bleed to death?"
That comment of Draco's earned him an evil glare from the Scarface, "Shut up, Malfoy."
Draco flinched at the sound of his last name, as he now always did, ever since he had that recollection of his past in Potions class.
"Fine," Draco said, and he turned to walk up to his room.
"What's the matter with you today, Malfoy?"
Draco flinched, again.
"What happened to 'scarface', 'pothead', and pain old 'potter'?" Harry asked Draco with a sneer.
"I'm keeping a promise, got a problem with that?" Draco shot, trying to keep his voice as level as he could.
Potter eyed him steadily, for a moment. Then, he turned away abruptly, and left the common room, without another word.
A/N- Thanks for all the great reviews, I promise to update soon! Bye for now!