Chapter Nineteen:

Two hours had passed and Hermione had not moved an inch. She felt like she was glued to the sofa.

She kept on staring at the big clock against the wall, listening attentively to every tick.

Tears were streaming down her face. She couldn't even get herself to raise her hand and wipe them away.

All sorts of thoughts creeped her mind. She was worried sick and she was terrified.

'Draco, where are you? What happened to you? Are you ok? Were you caught by death eaters, or worse by your father? Are you still alive? Why isn't he back yet, we had a stupid fight, which was his fault mainly. Why did he risk his life and leave the house? Anything could happen to him, he could meet anyone in his way. Oh my god please let him be alive. Don't take him away just yet.'

Hermione sat deep in thought and was only distracted twenty minutes later by the noise of someone struggling to get inside the house.

She quickly walked towards the foyer, and was greeted by a strong smell of alcohol.

A second later, she saw a very drunk Draco walk through the door, hiccupping.

"Hermione, -hiccup- haha, isn't -hiccup- life just funny?" he asked her out of the blue.

"Actually it isn't." she said furiously and headed to her room, looking through the little potion bottles she had in her medicine drawer.

She brewed all this potions and kept them just incase she'll need them one day.

"Where is that potion?" she said to herself while reading various labels.

"There, Soberblosssem." she grabbed the little bottle out of the drawer and headed towards Malfoy.

"You know, I -hiccup- was walking around all upset, and -hiccup- than -hiccup- I walked into this muggle bar, and learned the -hiccup- best -hiccup- Muggle invention. The -hiccup- Vodka. Oh my, I think I'm in love. At least -hiccup- the Vodka wouldn't be ashamed of me in front of her friends, maybe the -hiccup- Vodka will give me a chance and truly open up to me. Because obviously -hiccup- you don't." he said in a drunken voice laughing to himself.

"Draco stay still for a moment will you?" she asked. She than asked him to open his mouth and poured four drops onto his tongue.

"Now put your tongue in your mouth, and swallow the potion." she instructed as if she's talking to a child.

Little by little the potion started working, and Hermione noticed Draco becoming sober by the minute.

It was a special potion she worked on for a while. She actually saw it in a modern potion book, but it was extremely difficult to brew.

"Thannk goodness my will to succeed is so strong." she said more to herself.

"What!" asked Draco confused.

"Nothing." she replied quickly.

Five minutes was the time that the potion needed to fully work. 'One more minute, and he'll be sober.' she thought to herself.

A minute had passed. Hermione was still in the kitchen upset, and Draco in the living room looking at the big clock.

Hermione walked upto Draco, "What the hell were you thinking being out so late, getting drunk in some bar?" she asked angrily.

"I was thinking what I needed to think, and besides it's none of your business." he stated.

"None of my business? What do you mean by that? I was worried sick about you!" Hermione started getting so frustrated. She felt tears of anger threatening to escape her eyes.

"You do not own me, you cannot tell me where I can and can't go or what to do with my time." he said a little louder than he expected.

"I never said I own you, but the least you can do is respect the fact that you live here, and come back at a decent time." said Hermione ready to punch Draco straight in the face for his arrogance.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you had a blast with the weaselelf that you didn't even notice I was gone." said Draco looking away from her.

"Stop insulting my friends." shouted Hermione.

"Oh, I see, they were always more important than me." said Draco walking away.

"Malfoy, Don't YOU dare walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" said Hermione.

Draco turned around and faced her.

"What do you want from me?" he asked getting impatient.

"I want you to explain yourself!" said Hermione.

"I don't own you an explanation, you are not my mother you know!" he spat the words out at her.

"Thank god I'm not your mother. I wouldn't want to be responsible for bringing such an arrogant idiot onto the face of the earth." she said indicating every single word.

"Well, your not, so leave me the fuck alone. I have a lot of shit on my mind besides you putting your bullshit on me!" he said and stormed into his room.

Hermione felt lost, she did not know what to do or what to think, she needed her friend now.

She wrote to Ruby. The shortest letter she has ever written, and instructed her owl to hurry up and bring it to her.

Ruby was sleeping on her cozy bed. All of a sudden she felt something bickering at her fingers.

"Who the hell is this?" she asked sleepily.

The figure didn't stop, but started bickering harder.

Ruby rubbed her eyes in a lazy manner, and opened them slowely.

She saw Hermione's owl sitting on her, bickering at her fingers, a small piece of parchment attached to it's leg.

She took the parchment off the owl, and started reading the only sentence. "I need you now!" that's all it said.

At first Ruby was puzzled, but than she re-read the sentence and realized Hermione was calling for her.

She got up in lighting speed and changed. She wrote her parents a small note stating where she has gone to, and quickly aparated to Hermione's house.

When Ruby aparated in Hermione's bedroom she saw her sitting on the edge of the bed crying.

Her heart tore open to see her friend in so much agony. She came near her, and started pushing her hair back, and wiping the tears from her face.

"Hermione, talk to me. Hermione, what happened? Why are you crying?" Ruby spoke to her in a soothing soft voice.

"He is such an ass." Hermione stated and burst into harder tears.

"Who? Draco? What happened?" Ruby asked Hermione, while pulling her into a comforting hug.

"He called me a hooker, and then left, and came back drunk, talking about how I'm not his mother and I cannot control him." sobbed Hermione.

"OH my god, I will beat him up. That motherfucker has no right talking to you this way." Ruby was furious she quickly got up and headed to Draco's room, ready to break his head open.

Hermione ran after her and grabbed her half way.

"NO, don't do anything." she said, "I need you now. Please don't go. Let him figure it out on his own." said Hermione and pulled her back to her room.

"I'm just soo upset, you know everything was going so well, and all of a sudden, we're in this huge fight." said Hermione looking into Ruby's eyes.

"I understand." said Ruby, and urged Hermione to tell her everything that happened from the beginning to the end.