Chapter Four: Brilliant
A/N: My thanks goes out those who have reviewed: GyffindorPrincessofDarkness, ShadowHexx771, iluvsmallville1, HanSolosBabe4eva, SlytherinPrincess5489, and zandrarose! I appreciate your reviews so much! Once again, I procrastinated and didn't finish this as soon as I would have liked. I'm sorry to keep you all waiting! I'm also sorry that this chapter is so short, but I like the way it is..
Draco's POV
Af first I was bewildered. She had just come out of nowhere, running like a madwoman towards me! I suppose the only good thing that came out of this was that I didn't have to put in any effort to go into the forest and look for her. This is odd..and I really hate to admit it, but it seems to be comforting to have her in my arms...except for her sobbing on my shoulder. It's getting quite damp.
Eventually she grows quiet, then extricated herself from my arms.
I say, calmly, "So, what happened?"
She sighs. "It's a long story."
"Do tell." Maybe I'm pressing a bit too much here, but hey- I wanted to know what happened.
"Well, you know how it all started. I had gone into the forest to look for others.."
"And?"
"And..I did find someone. He spoke of a similar curse, and came on the island with someone else, too- a girl..both of them hated each other," she says, quietly. This wasn't Hermione at all. Some odd, foreign person. Her, quiet? I suppose I'll have to act like I usually do and see if that gets any results.
"So?" Is all I say.
"So! Are you telling me you don't get it?" She says, angrily. Results found. Now this was more like the Hermione, a.k.a. Know-It-All, I knew.
"Get what?" I say, playing along.
It just makes her angrier. "Don't you see! It's the curse that dragged them here, too! The same damn, bloody curse!"
I pause, and say in a way to provoke her, "You didn't have to curse to say that we're under a curse."
"Oh, how very brilliant and witty you are," she says, sarcastically.
"Of course I am. And anyway, you're going to believe that nonense? There's still some logical explanation, I'm sure..funny. Aren't you the logical one?" Look, I might have agreed with her earlier on about the curse and everything, but I'm not going to completely give in that easily. It all just sounded too fake!
"How do I get this through that thick skull of your's? We're witches and wizards, can anything be logical through magic? Why does a tea cup turn into a mouse if we only mutter some odd word and tap it with a stick? Can you honeslty say that you can explain that?"
I forgot that once she got into that arguing mode of her's, which she was in quite often, she never left it. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to get her back to her old self, afterall.
"Well," I point out, mockingly, "Can you honestly explain why you were crying and running around like a maniac?"
She says nothing, but gives me her trademark frosty glare. How could I have forgotten about that?
"So, are you going to tell me the rest of what you were explaining?" I add, more politely. I did really want to know, afterall. She was a Gryffindor, and weren't they brave? Ha, apparently not. I, on the other hand, can take on anything. Except for living my father's name and becoming a Death Eater. Sure..the Dark Lord is great, powerful. But is it really worth it to follow him? I'll bow down to no one!
She rolls her eyes. "Honestly."
"Please?"
She rolls her eyes again, but then says, "The man was...ancient. Literally. He's been here since the founding of Hogwarts..which is ages, as I'm sure you know."
"What!" I say, astonished. "That's impossible!"
"Not when you're under the curse.."
"Oh no," I groan. "You're literally here for all of eternity?"
"Yes, and you still age- but you don't die."
"Wicked," I say, a look of glee upon my face. We have a power even the Dark Lord himself couldn't achieve- well, in the worst possible way did we have this power...but..
"You think it's wicked to be immortal? You're stuck with someone you hate! Forever! Besides, you can die. I saw him..die. Yes, you can live forever, but he chose..not to."
I shrug. "But you don't have to die. That's the point. The man must've been crazy. Why else would someone want to die? And all I have to do is go on the other side of the island- then neither of us will see each other at all. The island is big enough for the both of us, right?" Immortality was something hard to pass up on. It sounded a lot better than falling in love with her, returning to Hogwarts as a mortal, and as a lovesick fool. Immortality sounded a lot better than dying. Yes, immortality was looking a lot better.
"Now really! You are horrible!"
"What? You think it's wrong to like living forever?"
"Don't you care about the people you love?" She hissed. "They're more important than living for forever! They'll be dead and gone, and what good would that do for us? Don't you just want to see them again? If not for one last time?"
"And what people would that be?" I ask. Not like I really cared about anyone else. Except for myself, and I suppose Hermione- she was my one-way ticket out of here, if need be. No, scratch that. I don't care about her..I don't think I do..
"There's no one you care about?" She says, disbelieving.
"Nope." Sounds pathetic, but it's mostly true. My mother and father don't take on their roles of being parents too well- though my mum worries way too much over me. And my friends- Crabbe and Goyle? They're buffoons! They're only convienient because they do all of my bidding. Other than that, what friends?
After a time, Hermione says, "I could never live without seeing Harry or Ron again. It's just..impossible."
"They're not that great," I retort. "Really, all they seem to do is use you so they can get acceptable grades on their homework."
"They do not use me!" She says, angrily. "Well...they do, but not always. They're loyal, and are great friends! Can you say that of Crabbe and Goyle?"
"No, because actually- I use them. Instead of being the one that's used."
She rolls her eyes. "You're unbelievable." So? Was that a bad thing? But I don't say that. I'ts not as if I take pleasure in pointing out all of the bad aspects that people see in me.
I try to change the subject and ask, "So, how did the man die?"
"He just went mad..and..he drowned himself."
"That's it? And that sent you running? Thought it would have been a bit more disturbing than that."
"What? You would've hung around to watch a lifeless body float in a pond? Yes, I'm sure you would've admired the smell of a rotting corpse only days later!" She says, sarcastically.
"Wait- say that again. A pond? Here?" Water. It reminded me of how remarkably thirsty I was.
"Yes, but there is no way I'm going back there! Couldn't tell you where it was, anyway."
"But we need water! You can't say you're not thirsty! What's more important- your life, or some dead body in the water?"
"The water would be tainted with death!" Tainted with death? Okay..
It's my turn to roll my eyes. "Yeah, better that water than our deaths!"
"We can't die, anyway," She says, coldly. "We're immortal, remember? We don't die from things like this!"
I frown. "How do you know that we won't die from thirst and starvation?"
"I don't," She sniffs, "But I'm positive we won't. We don''t die from sickness, and I'm pretty sure eating and drinking is apart of sickness." This is pointless in arguing with someone that has to be right about everything. But this was our lives at stake, and I'm not about to take any chances. We were going to find that pond. We needed to.
"Could also be a very good way to die!" I say, angrily. "This is no time to argue! We need water!"
"Point is," She says, huffily, "I'm not taking you back there. Not while that man's body is floating in it. And as I said, I don't know where it is!"
"Then we can find it!" I say, hoarsely. My throat was getting drier by the second. "Please, Hermione, let's just go and look for it.." This was insane. I, Draco Malfoy, had to beg someone! This was all too frustrating.
"No! I told you already, I don't even know where the place is, and I'm sure we won't die! There's no way I'm about to.." She goes on and on. I had to do something to shut her up! I grab her shoulders and lock my lips on to her's, furiously snogging her. When I let go, she stands there, breathless.
I honestly don't know what had come over me- but it was a good way to shut her up. I'm more surprised to find that I enjoyed it. And that she turned out to be a pretty good kisser. Where did she get her experience..? No, I would rather not know. These thoughts are starting to scare me..
"I.."
"What?" I taunt. "Never kissed someone before?"
"Yes, I have but-" She stops in midsentence, then glares at me- probably only now realizing what just took place. "I- you-"
"Whatever." I say, but wonder who it was that she did kiss. Why did I care so much? "Now, can we go?"
Not trusting herself to speak, she only nods. Nothing more said, we set off quietly into the forest, in search of water.
Still, I can't get over the fact of how brilliant of a kisser she actually is.