Chapter 5

He was sitting on the couch with his legs sprawled and a sweet smile etched on his face. Hermione tried her best to return the smile.

"You look very tired" he said.

She shrugged. "Not really"

"That's not true. Look at you, all drained out" he got up and started walking towards her.

Hermione had a nervous smile on her face. "I'm fine. Really!"

To be honest, she was not. How could she be? Her guilt was eating her out from the inside. She had decided that she would tell him the truth, not that she could hide it from him for a long time anyway but now she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Every time she looked at his face she was only reminded of her own treacherous actions and she felt ashamed of herself.

"Are you alright? You're sweating."

"No I'm not"

She was sweating. Profusely.

Hermione looked away from him and turned to the other side if the room pretending to look for something in her wardrobe.

"I'm just surprised to see you is all" she tried to change the topic.

"Why? Were you expecting someone else?"

Hermione froze. She turned very slowly to look at him only to find him staring at her intently. She got the feeling that he knew. He knew about last night but was purposely keeping quiet while she made a fool out of herself. Her mouth was open and she was at a complete loss of words. She must have look really frightened as his solemn look vanished and he let out a small chuckle.

"What's wrong with you Hermione? I was only joking" he said with a smile but Hermione had already reached her breaking point. She didn't laugh, just gave him a tensed look.

"Hermione?" he asked in what seemed like a concerned voice but she only got the feeling that he was playing with her. He was taunting and mocking her, waiting for her to break down and that was precisely what she did. Slowly tears streamed down her eyes.

Her boyfriend stood rooted to his spot, not bothering to make any efforts to console her. After a few minutes of sobbing she calmed down a little. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" she began with her eyes glued to the floor. She couldn't pluck up the courage to look him in the eye.

"Last night..." a sob escaped her lips, "l...last night I.."

"You were with Malfoy"

Hermione stared at the floor with teary eyes.

"I-I didn't...nothing happened between him and me, I swear"

"You're lying!" his voice was rough.

"No I'm not. I swear...we only shared the same bed because I was feeling cold and ill" she tried to explain.

"And you liked it. You still have feelings for him, don't you?"

"No, that's not true at all"

"Don't you secretly wish that something more should have happened between you two that night?"

Hermione bit the inside of her cheek trying to hide her surprise at how well he knew her. "No"

He gave her a piercing gaze. "Don't lie to me. You know you can't hide anything from me."

"It is not what it looks like. Please!" She wept.

"Don't cry Hermione. You know I don't like it when you cry" his voice softened.

Hermione whimpered. He closed the distance between them and wiped her tears gently with his right hand.

"I love you so much" he caressed her cheek, "I thought you felt the same for me but I guess I was wrong" he finished sorrowfully.

"No!" she almost shrieked. "No no no. I love you, I do" she said in an urgent tone. "I can't lose you, not again. Please it won't happen ever again" she said more to herself than to him.

"You don't mean it"

"Yes I do. I promise"

"Can I trust you?" he looked into her eyes.

Hermione was silent for a while before saying, "Yes you can". She wiped both her eyes with her hands and took a deep breath to compose herself. "I'm not hungry at all, let's go and sleep" she said wearily.

...

The alarm clock rang for the third time when Hermione finally woke up. She blinked a few times and looked around herself. She was all alone. Hermione sighed, he had already left. One look at the clock told her that she was late and she rushed into the bathroom.

Yesterday had been tiring and she'd been thinking about taking the day off but she had lots of work left to do so she decided against it.

By the time she reached the ministry of magic she was already half an hour late. Finally at eight thirty five in the morning Hermione entered her cabin and her eyes widened with shock and confusion when she what was inside. A huge bouquet of peonies was sitting on her desk in midst of all her files and paperwork. Before she could do anything about it there was a knock on the door and Padma Patil walked inside.

"Hermione I was waiting-" she stopped mid sentence when she saw the flowers. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed and was about to grab it but Hermione beat her to it. She grabbed the bouquet and quickly snatched away the card which was present along with it.

"Ooo Hermione has a secret affair" she teased.

Hermione blushed at the statement but quickly replaced it with indifference.

"So who's it from?" Padma asked excitedly.

Hermione shrugged. "It doesn't matter". She knew exactly who had sent it but she would never say it.

Padma smirked. "Atleast you seem to have a date for the upcoming ball!"

"What? That's preposterous! You've got it all wrong. This is from...from no one and definitely not from any guy" Hermione said firmly.

"Okay but they're really beautiful and smell nice too" Padma chirped.

Hermione scrutinized them. The peonies looked fresh and as pretty as a picture. With a huff she grabbed the bouquet, walked out f of her cabin and threw them in the nearby bin. Padma's eyes widened and her jaw was hanging in the air.

None of the girls noticed a brunette observing them from a distance. She threw a look of absolute loathing in their direction and stomped away.

"You can't be serious! Peonies are so rare and expensive too!" Padma almost screamed.

"I don't care. I don't want any unwanted things in here"

"That's harsh. Well you could have given them to me! I would have happily taken them home." She looked at the wasted flowers longingly.

"Oh Sorry. Maybe next time" Hermione gave an apologetic smile.

"That's fine. Enough about the bloody peonies, do you know what time it is? You are so late"

"I know! I've just been so busy and so many things are happening..."

"You look like you need a break"

"Trust me, I do but we've got loads of work to finish before that"

"That reminds me! The meeting starts in five minutes" Padma reminded.

"Yeah. You go ahead, I'm coming". Hermione nodded.

"Okay. Don't be late again" she said and walked out.

Hermione took a deep breath, she was already starting to feel tired and the day had only just began. She eyed the paper which had been crumpled in her hand for so long with uncertainty. Slowly she opened it.

Sorry for yesterday.

-DM

Hermione stared at it for a little longer than necessary before folding the paper neatly and placing it inside her coat pocket. She then walked out of her cabin to attend the meeting, hoping that she was on time.