A/n: guys, u aren't reviewing. ur making me suggest that I should stop. plz guys review!
Waking up the next morning was hard for Hermione. Her muscles felt numb and her head hurt. The day before had really taken a lot out of her. Hermione sat up straight in her bed. She looked around the Gryffindor theme room. Scarlet carpeting with gold embroidering, red cotton comforter on her bed with a large lion in the middle. Everything seemed in order. Except for the open door that she had closed last night before going to bed.
Even though she didn't want to, Hermione got out of bed and put on her slippers. She walked down her staircase down to the common room. Still having a few stairs left, Hermione looked into the common room. It was not empty. Draco and Blaise were in there. Hermione backed up a couple of steps but still kept a distance left that she could hear what they were saying.
"You know Dray, I expected something to change this year" she heard Blaise say. Draco laughed. "Oh yeah? Like how?" he asked. "I don't know." Blaise answered truthfully. Then, Blaise looked over Draco's shoulder and saw a glimpse of a lock of curly, brown hair. Silently, Blaise nudged Draco's arm and whispered something to him. Draco looked over his shoulder and frowned, also seeing the lock of brown hair. He stood up and walked toward Hermione's staircase.
She heard footsteps coming to her. Hermione panicked. Trying to slip back up the stairs, one of her slippers fell off her foot. It rolled down to the foot of the stairs. She closed her eyes shut and stayed still.
Draco saw the slipper come down. He picked it up and smirked. He put his foot on the first step. Then he started going up.
As Hermione heard the footsteps come up the stairs, she backed away up as well. With her eyes still closed, she tripped and landed on the upcoming step.
Draco stopped going up the stairs once he saw Hermione fully. She was staying still on a step, eyes closed tightly. Draco couldn't help but smirk at this. "Granger, is there something you would like to tell me?" he drawled.
Hermione's eyes shot open. She looked up into the steely grey eyes of Draco Malfoy. She had been caught. She didn't know why, but she felt fear brew up inside her. She stood up, her knees shaking like twigs, and she reached out her arm to get her slipper. Draco let her have it. Once Hermione got her slipper, she turned slowly and thought she would be able to go back to her room.
"I'm not letting you off that easily Granger" Draco said venomously. Hermione froze. She kept her back to Draco. Through a silence between them, Hermione continued to go up to her room. When she got there, she closed the door.
Draco went up the stairs, taking two at a time and opened her door. Hermione was sitting on her bed, not looking her normal self. "Didn't I tell you yesterday that you should learn to mind your own business" Draco said in a voice so haunting to Hermione. "Get out of my room" Hermione whispered. "Wasn't I the one that had a row with you about whose nosy and who should mind their own business." Draco continued, ignoring Hermione.
"I said, get out of my room" she said a little louder. "And wasn't I the one who insisted that you would get hurt if you didn't learn to get out of other people's business" he kept going, making a threatening step closer to Hermione. She squirmed farther up her bed and brought her sheets to her chest. "And you know what else Granger? I was the one who got slapped because I called you names that suited you. And I was the one who was telling the truth. You are the nosy one."
Hermione mumbled something as she looked down at her sheets. "What?" Draco asked, seriously not hearing Hermione. "I said...I'm sorry" she repeated. Draco looked puzzled. Why was she apologizing? Why was she apologizing to Draco Malfoy? She looked up again and Draco saw that her face was streaked with tears. His face fell dramatically. 'Shit' he thought. "I'm sorry...that I hit you. I'm sorry..that I was mad over one little incident. And I'm sorry...if I made you feel embarrassed when I hit you." she kept on apologizing to Draco for things she thought she should apologize for.
"Wait, wait. Stop, stop." Draco said. Hermione stopped talking and looked up at him. "Why are you apologizing...to me?" he asked. She shrugged. "I don't know. My mum always taught me to apologized when you feel you need to." Draco scratched his head and looked in a different direction. Well didn't he feel stupid. "Malfoy, I know I'm nosy. It's in my blood. I just hate to admit it though. You have every right to hate me even more than you do already." she said softly.
Between Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, there was a deadly silence. Draco looked over at Hermione and stared into her blood-shot eyes. He had never thought that he would be feeling this uncomfortable around Hermione. After what felt like an eternity, Hermione removed her sheets and got out of bed. Her nightgown clinging to her legs, she reached Draco. "I'm going to do something. And don't freak out until after you leave my room." she warned. Unsurely, Draco nodded.
Hermione came closer to him and wrapped her arms around him. She placed her head on his chest for a few seconds before releasing him from her hug. She took this opportunity to slowly push the bewildered Draco out of her room. She closed the door and turned. Leaning her back on the door, she slid down to the floor. (hey, that rhymes!) What the hell did she just do?
Outside the door, where Draco stood wide eyed, he slowly made his way down the stairs and sat back on the couch where Blaise still sat. "What happened" Blaise asked. "She...she..." Draco stuttered. "She what?" he asked anxiously. "She hugged me" Draco finally let out. "What? She hugged you?" Blaise asked. Draco continued to stammer and nod. "Oh wow." Blaise chuckled. Draco stood up. "I'm going to my room" he said.
"Okay, but I'm going with you this time." Blaise said.
The two boys went up the opposite staircase from Hermione and left the common room empty.
Hermione sat in front of her vanity table and brushed her hair. She wasn't really crazy about her hair, but after taming it a little so it was brushable, ( i doubt thats a word) she wanted to just keep it healthy so it wouldn't go back to it's former frizzy self. As she brushed her hair, she wondered what she had done to Draco. 'I hugged him. But why? Why did I hug him?' she thought to herself. Maybe because you wanted to? said a voice inside her head. 'NO! This is Draco Malfoy we're talking about.'
That's it. Hermione was going crazy. She was having an argument with herself for heavens sake! Hermione put the brush down and went to her closet. She pulled out a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. Laying them on the bed, she grabbed her towel and robe and made her way down to the bathroom. When she got to the common room, she found herself a little disappointed at the sight that Draco and Blaise were not there.
She went through the door to the right of Draco's staircase and locked the door. The large marble bathroom gleamed when Hermione turned the light on. The light bulbs around the bathroom mirror shined brightly. Hermione went over to the shower, passing the (practically) pool sized bath tub. She turned on the water and stepped in. She left the warm water fog up the glass door and relax her tense muscles.
Draco and Blaise sat in Draco's Slytherin theme bedroom. The room was just like Hermione's room only everything was in Slytherin colors and had serpents everywhere instead of lions. Draco heard the faint noise of running water. 'She's taking a shower. She must be going somewhere' he thought. "Did you know Weasley and Granger are seeing each other?" Blaise said, looking at Draco's writing desk.
Draco's head snapped when he looked at Blaise. "What?" Blaise nodded with his back still to Draco. "For years. Haven't you noticed?" 'Fucking weasel' Draco thought darkly. "Well...I guess. But I don't waste my time noticing who the mudblood is dating." Draco spat. Blaise laughed. "That's true, I guess." Draco lied back on his back, staring at the ceiling of his four poster bed.
Blaise turned around and saw his friend sprawled out on his bed. "What's up Dray?" he asked, taking one of Draco's chairs, turning it backwards and sitting on it. "Nothing Blaise. Just...bored." Draco lied. Blaise looked around the room. He took a balled up parchment and threw it at Draco's head. Bulls-eye. It hit Draco directly at the side of his forehead. Draco glared at him from the corner of his eye. "Fuck you, okay" Draco said.
"Okay, I'm serious now. What has gotten you so up tight." Blaise asked. "I told you. Boredom." Blaise shook Draco by his ankle. "Then let's go find some sluts" he chuckled. "Not in the mood" Draco mumbled. Blaise gave a mock gasp. "What? Draco Malfoy, the Sex God of Slytherin is turning down sex? You must be sick." Blaise placed his hand on Draco's forehead and laughed. Draco swatted Blaise's hand away. "It's nothing funny. Now shut up."
Blaise sat back down in the chair. "Whatever man. It's your call, I guess." The faint sound of running water stopped. 'She's out' Draco announced in his head. "Come on Dray. Let's go downstairs." Blaise managed to get Draco to stand up. The two left Draco's bedroom and started to walk down the stairs. The common room was still empty. Draco sat down on the couch and Blaise sat on the arm rest.
Hermione stepped out of the shower and wrapped her towel around her body. She took another towel that was supplied in the room and started drying her hair. Drying her body a little more, she put on her robe. She put the towel that was once around her body in her left arm and continued to dry off her hair with the towel in her right arm.
As if she didn't see them, Hermione passed Blaise and Draco who were still on the couch in the common room. The two boys smirked and Blaise let out a wolf whistle. Hermione jumped and the towels fell to the floor. She tightened her robe and picked up the fallen towels. "Don't do that to me. Or one of these days I swear I'll-" "-Bore me by reading a book in front of me?" Blaise suggested, laughing.
Hermione rolled her eyes and mumbled "Immature" as she went up her staircase. She pulled on her clothes and blow dried her hair. She put on her black trainers and pulled on her jean jacket. She left her room and jogged back downstairs. "Where are you going Granger?" Draco called after her. "None of your business" Hermione called back. Blaise couldn't help but laugh at this.
She left the common room and jogged around the hallways. She went outside and walked over to Hagrid's Hut. There, she saw Harry, Ron and Hagrid talking outside of the hut. "Hey guys!" Hermione yelled, waving her arm. Hagrid sees her over Harry and Ron and waves back. "Well hello Hermione. How's live been treatin ya?" Hagrid asks cheerfully. Hermione smiles and says hi to Harry and Ron.
"How's living with Malfoy going?" Harry asks. Hermione rolls her eyes. "Nothing special. After our little spat yesterday, we fought this morning on the same subject." she explained. She tried her best to make it sound horrible. So she kept out her apologizing to him and hugging him. "I feel bad for you Hermione. Having to live with the 'amazing-bouncing-ferret.'" Ron said. Hermione laughed. "Don't worry. I'm living."
"You sure he hasn't touched you 'Mione?" Harry asked. Sighing, she nodded. "Don't you think I would noticed if he had touched me? Unless he touched me while I was sleeping." She saw Ron puff up a little. "Ron, I was kidding. Calm down." Ron pouted and looked away. "Well Hermione, after you and Malfoy's spat yesterday, everyone seemed a bit distracted for the rest of the lesson. The imps didn't mind it though.." Hagrid said. He looked behind the log he was sitting on and scratched his head.
"Did one of yous seen me waterin can?" he asked. Harry, Ron and Hermione looked around from their seats and shook their heads. Hermione looked over the pumpkin patch and giggled. "Err...Hagrid, I think I found it." She pointed near the pumpkin patch where an imp was running away with Hagrid's watering can. "Oi! Come back 'ere you little-" Hagrid got up and started running across the pumpkin patch, leaving the trio laughing.
Ron put his arm around Hermione to hold himself up from falling.
Blaise had taken Draco outside of the castle to find something to do. They walked passed Hagrid's Hut and noticed the Trio. Draco defiantly noticed Ron's arm around Hermione. For some reason, he grew angry. Or..maybe even...jealous? 'No, I can't be jealous of Weasley. Why would I be jealous of him?' Draco thought.
Maybe because he is the one holding Hermione and not you? that voice inside Draco's head said.
No. Draco was not jealous. He couldn't be. Not of Ron. "What are you looking at Dray?" Blaise asked. Draco, not pulling his eyes away from Hermione, shook his head. "I told you, Granger and Weasley were at it" Blaise chuckled. "Shut up" Draco said, stalking off with his hands in his pockets and head low.
Harry, Ron and Hermione's laughs died down slowly and Harry stood up on the rock he was sitting on. Watching Hagrid chase the imp around in circles was pretty funny to look at. "Looks like this might take a while" Harry said, jumping down from the rock. After a few minutes of waiting, Hermione stood. "Guys, I have to get back to the castle. I'm gonna have to do my rounds soon."
"Have Malfoy do it" Ron said. Hermione frowned. "Ron, Hogwarts is a big school. I can't have Malfoy go around, checking everything by himself." "Since when do you care?" he shot back. Hermione thought for a minute. "Well...I don't. I just want to do something tonight instead of just sitting around, doing nothing." With that said, she left, jogging back to the castle. She ran up to the portrait hole.
Hermione was expected the two children inhabiting the portrait to be fighting. Although, it was quite the opposite. The little girl was sitting on the swing in the middle of the portrait and the little boy was farther behind in the portrait so he looked really small. "Err...Hatred?" Hermione said. The little girl lifted her brown haired head and nodded.
The portrait hole opened and Hermione entered. She went up to her room, quickly threw her robes over her attire and went down and back up the other staircase to Draco's room. Knocking on his door, she received no answer. She went back downstairs and literally ran into Draco. Both hit each other so hard, they both fell to the floor.
Draco was the first one to get up. Hermione stayed on the floor and massaged her ankle. "Make sure you're not hurt because if you are, it won't be on my account" Draco said. Looking up at him, Hermione winced in pain. He sighed. Draco outstretched his hand and Hermione took it. He helped her up to her feet. "I thought you were out with Potter and Weasley" Draco made sure he added extra venom when he said Ron's last name.
"I was, but then I decided to come in and do my rounds." Draco crossed his arms, rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Yeah right." he mumbled. "Yeah. Right. Ron suggested I stay with him and Harry and have you do the rounds all by yourself. I stood up and said no. Because I didn't want you to search the whole school by yourself. So don't look at me like I'm a lying bitch. I'm not." Inside, Draco felt guilty, but he didn't show it. He made sure of that.
After an awkward silence, Hermione finally said, "Are we going to do our rounds or what?" She turned and walked toward the portrait hole, ready to leave. Draco followed. Once they got out into the hall, they separated, going in different directions.
Draco wandered around the hallways from his floor, down and Hermione wandered the hallways from her floor, up. Hermione turned a corner and saw the Ravenclaw portrait hole. A few Ravenclaws entered through it and waved goodbye to their friends from other houses. She didn't say anything. She passed the students silently and looked around.
The walls filled with portraits wizards and witches, some of the people inhabiting the portraits were snoozing and others were engrossed in their own personal conversations. After a while, Hermione's feet got tired. She stopped at the foot of the sixth floor staircase and sat down. "...And in my opinion, I think it's rubbish really! I mean she should get the hint by now" said the oh-so familiar voice of Ron.
Ron and Harry were walking toward the staircase Hermione was sitting at. "I mean, she's supposed to be smart, isn't she? She should learn how to take a hi-" Ron was cut off by Harry nudging him to warn him of Hermione up ahead. "Hey guys" she said as her friends stopped in front of her. "'Mione, what are you doing?" Harry said , laughing at her current state.
"Rounds" she simply said. "Don't rounds involve walking?" Ron laughed. "Ha-ha" Hermione said, sarcastically. She stood up and straightened her robes. "Well, I'm going to finish up. See you at dinner" she said before waving goodbye to her friends. She walked around the hallways for a long time before she decided to go back to the common room.
She entered the common room and saw that Draco was on the couch, reading a book. "It's about time you got back" he said, eyes still on the book. "Well sorry. I had the larger rout since you only had like...four floors to check." she said, breathing heavily. "And, don't you ever get off that couch?" Draco marked the page he was at in the book and closed it.
He stood up and put the book away. "There. I'm off the couch." Rolling her eyes at his immatureness, Hermione went upstairs and threw herself on her bed. She thought about what she had overheard Ron say. "...And in my opinion, I think it's rubbish really! I mean she should get the hint by now" and "I mean, she's supposed to be smart, isn't she? She should learn how to take a hint"
Was he talking about her? Well of course he was. This year, Ron had never made it so obvious that he had liked her. If it was so obvious, how come she didn't even notice? She didn't wanna hurt Ron's feelings but Hermione was just not feeling Ron like that. They were best friends and he drove her crazy. He was more like a little brother to her.
'I know I have to tell him' she thought, 'But how can I tell him without hurting him?' Thinking about this for a minute, she thought of something but turned it down. "Damn, this is hard" she said out loud. Then, she thought of something again. She went downstairs and turned around to Draco's room. She knocked on his door quickly.
He opened it and asked, "May I help you?" "Malfoy, you wanna help me out?" she asked hopefully. Draco snickered. "Let's put it this way...No." He attempted to close the door but Hermione kept it open. "Please Malfoy. I could really use your help." Draco scoffed. "I thought you wanted to work on your little project by yourself." Shaking her head, she said "No, no. Not that. Look, Ron likes me, I don't like him, I don't wanna hurt his feeling and I need someone to help me."
Draco crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. "What do you expect me to do? Have me tell him you don't fancy him and he should get over it." 'Maybe that would work' Hermione thought but she pushed it out of her mind. "Er...well...do anything. Just don't hurt him–physically." she added the last part quickly once she saw Draco smirk. "Well, what's in it for me?" he asked. "Whatever you want" she said. Thinking about it, Draco answered before he could stop it. "I wanna help you do your project." He clasped his hands over his mouth.
"You? You wanna help me?" Hermione repeated unbelievably. Slowly, he nodded. "It would take you years to figure it out by yourself." Shaking her head in disbelief, she said "Wait? Why do you care if it takes me years? Why do you care in general?" He shrugged. "I think I could be useful. And I think there's something connected between that blond girl and that necklace she gave you."
Immediately, Hermione remembered the necklace. She still had it. It was in a little box, in her trunk, under her bed. That's where she always kept it: under her bed. "Okay" Hermione said in a low voice. "Pardon?" "I said...okay. You can help me if you want. Just don't fuck it up." Hermione was about to turn to leave but turned around to face Draco once more. "Oh and Malfoy, thanks." She turned around again and went down the stairs.
Once Hermione had reached her bedroom, she realized what she had just done. 'I think I just made a deal with the devil.'
a/n: this took me so long to do! Omg, so dam long! I hope u like it. REVIEW PLEASE!