Hey everyone! Sorry, this chapter is a bit longer the rest – usually the rest are like 6 pages long on my word processor, but this one is over 10 pages! It's just I couldn't find a suitable place to stop. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
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All is fair in love and war
a story written by Grace Robin
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Chapter 7 – Laughs, tears, joy and pain
"Hermiiiiiiiione; Hermiiiiiiiiiiiiiione; Hermione?" Hermione heard as she began to wake up. Standing over her she saw Ginny with concern on her face.
"Mione, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, what time is it? And where are we? Why aren't we at the Three Broomsticks still? And where did he go?"
"It's Sunday and it's very early in the morning. We are in the Hospital Wing because after your steamy kiss with your hot 'friend', you fell to the ground in a fainting spell. And don't worry – your new boo is still gonna meet you at whatever you planned with him. He said something about next weekend at the Three Broomsticks?"
"Oh, Ginny, I must of fainted from utter happiness. Hey, can you keep a secret? I think I'm in love,"
"Hermione, I hate to break it to you, especially since you only just woke up, but first of all, you barely know the guy; and second, what about Chris?"
"Oh my gosh, Ginny, what have I done? I mean, I nearly gave myself to him! It was that look in his eyes – all I wanted was him, and that kiss was just magic. But things were going so well with Chris! Sure, he's been pushing my buttons for the past week, trying to get me to sleep with him – and what's really weird is that he's beginning to act like Draco, just when Draco is starting to become like Chris! And you know what? It's really creepy – Draco hasn't had a single girl in the common room for 3 days straight. Do you reckon Chris and Draco are both sick? Or maybe swapped minds? Or..."
"Hey, Hermione; relax! Take a deep breath with me now. Breathe in – yes that's good; now breathe out. Okay, here's what I think you need to do – after breakfast later this morning, you need to go talk to Chris. Obviously he's got the wrong idea and you need to set him straight. I mean, come on, your not his girlfriend just to be his toy – your his girlfriend because he loves you, and you mostly love him, so talk with him,"
"Yeah, but what about Zach? As even you said, I don't fully love Chris anymore – Zach now has part of my heart."
"Simple. Meet up with him again when you guys planned. Then do what you did last night and see if you still feel the same way,"
"But I feel guilty about last night. I should never have gone; now I've cheated on my boyfriend, and it's all because of you!" shouted Hermione, getting all worked up and angry.
"Umm, I'm sorry, what did I just hear? I asked you to come, yes, but I didn't force you. And did you enjoy yourself last night? The obvious answer is yes, so maybe this is telling you something – maybe Chris isn't the one for you. Maybe it's our mystery man Zach,"
'Maybe your right,"
"Of course I'm right – I'm never wrong,"
"So true," and both girls began to laugh uncontrollably, until Mrs Pomprey walked into Hermione's cubicle.
"Okay, stop the laughing – there are some seriously ill people here, who need their rest, and obviously Miss Granger, your better. So can you two please get out of here before you wake everyone up? Oh, and Miss Granger, could you please be sure to come back here at a more reasonable hour today and I'll just check that your fine?"
"Yes Mrs Pomprey," giggled Hermione, and off walked Hermione and Ginny, arm in arm.
As they left the Hospital Wing, their giggling ceased and their conversation came back up.
"Hey, you never asked me about how Toby and I went," stated Ginny, crossing her arms infront of her, pretending to be like a small mad child.
"Oh, does someone need to feel special? Sure, let's hear about your night. Oh, and did you want to spend the night with me? I'd don't think I can get to sleep for another few hours anyways,"
"Okay, sure. So back to my story. Toby and I were having heaps of fun dancing the night away last night that, out of the blue, he asked me out! Of course I said yes, and so our first 'date' is going to be breakfast this morning,"
"Ginny, did you forget something? Or even someone? Aren't you and Harry dating?"
"Snap, yes! Dude, what am I gonna do? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to keep them apart,"
"Wait; what? Ginny, are your honestly going to date two people, at the same school, in the same grade, at the same time?"
"Yeah. I can't see any other way out of it,"
"Oh Ginny, you really do make me wonder why your so loved by all,"
"Neh, I wonder the same thing," and the two friends walked off to the Head's common room for a night (or morning) of gossip.
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After Draco left Hermione once completing the kiss, he sat down at the bar and ordered another beer. Suddenly Draco felt a hand clap onto his shoulder and he turned around to discover that it was Blaise.
"Draco, mate, good job. I have never seen anything like that before. And who could have known that Hermione was such a good kisser?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Oh come on chap, tell me; what was the kiss like for you? It looked pretty amazing. And, of course, your the one who started the kiss,"
"Blaise, are you deaf? I told you, I don't want to talk about it."
"Fine, but tell me this. Why did you send a charm on her so that she would faint? Ginny and I were having an awesome time but then when Hermione fainted she ran off to see if she was okay. They really are good friends, aren't they?"
"Let me as you something Blaise: Do you really want to know why I did that? Or are you just trying to strike up conversation?"
"A bit of both,"
"Fine. But if you tell another living or non living soul about this, I will have to kill you and your whole extended family,"
"Ouch! Don't worry, I ain't tellin no-one. Now spill the beans,"
"Well, we were dancing, right? And suddenly, I feel that urge to kiss her, and so I do. It's not till she starts kissing back that I realised what I'm doing, and I thought, heck, why the hell not? Then I can screw with her head more later. But when I tried to stop, I just couldn't. Why Blaise? Why did I have to kiss stupid Granger? Once the kiss finally ended, I just had to get away, you know? So I caused her to faint. That's it. That's my story,"
"Aww, that's so beautiful," Blaise said with sarcasm in his voice. "But why did you have to get away? It doesn't make sense. If you can kiss her like that, why can't you and her be something more? Ginny and I are now,"
"Okay, listen mate. I ain't going to talk about this stuff here, with a hundred or two people surrounding us. Do you want to come back to the common room tonight and we'll talk there? Oh, and don't forget – your new girlfriend already has a boyfriend – Potter," sneered Draco, proud that he had burst is friend's bubble for once.
"Oh, shit! That ain't cool. I never had a real reason to hate Potter, but now; well, when I'm done with him, there won't be much of a hero left in him,"
"Hey, I'm going to go talk to Ginny about something before she takes Hermione back to school. Did you want to come talk to her even though your all screwed up?"
"Yeah, but now I'm all upset. Thanks a lot for crushing my dreams Draco," and so Draco and Blaise made their way over to the girls.
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As the girls made their way down the corridor that led to the Head's common room, they heard shouting coming from the fore mentioned place.
"Uh oh, you better hurry in there and stop Draco from killing whoever he is shouting at," Ginny suggested.
"Why not you? You've got more confidence and control than I do,"
"Liar. Besides, you know how to control him. Remember yesterday morning?"
Hermione did – in the main hall Hermione heard Draco teasing a girl from Hufflepuff because she had her hair up in pig tails. Hermione had charged in and defended her against him, and after a simple hex that she placed on him, she had him under control for a minute or two, and even got him to apologies to the poor second year.
"Okay, wish me luck," sighed Hermione, but before she could quote the password to the portrait and continued into the room, she heard something interesting coming from within. As she stopped in front of the door the eavesdrop, Ginny also came to listen behind Hermione.
"I DO NOT LOVE HER!!!!!! GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK ASS HEAD! IT WAS JUST A SLIGHT ATTRACTION. NOTHING MORE, OKAY? NOW STOP BUGGIN ME ABOUT IT!!"
Then they heard another voice from inside, but they couldn't understand him. As they leaned in closer to the door, they heard,
"... Then why did you kiss her the way you did?"
"I don't know! I mean, come on, I can't always have control over my testosterone! Bloody Hell! WHY AM I TALKING ABOUT THIS WITH SOMEONE LIKE YOU???"
"Because I am the only person you can trust with your secrets,"
"Erk, and I hate that!" Then, behind Hermione, she heard Ginny sneeze. "Uh oh," thought Hermione, and then she heard from inside the room,
"Wait! What was that? Blaise, I think someone's listening in on us. I'll be right back," instantly Hermione placed an invisibility spell and silencing spell over Ginny and Herself. Once her pinky toe and the rest of her was covered, Out walked Draco, face red in anger.
"Come on out whoever you are. Don't worry, I won't do anything to you except kill you!" but luckily for the girls, Draco had left the portrait door open, and so as Draco began looking around the corridor, they slipped into the room without being noticed.
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"Wow, that was close," exhaled Ginny once they entered Hermione's room.
"Yeah, too close. What if he had caught us? We would be dead by now!"
"Oh, he's all talk and no action; nothing to worry about."
"I'm not so sure," but Hermione pushed these thoughts into the back of her head, and without her choosing, thoughts of the listened in conversation came to the front of her mind. Who was this girl that Draco liked, or 'had an attraction' to? Now Hermione had a goal to achieve – find out who this girl was and screw up his chances with her. Sure, Draco and Hermione were now friends and even had some decent conversations about any topic, but she still didn't want him to have a girlfriend. Who knows what they would be doing together, and Hermione didn't want any sleepless nights because they were 'getting it on'.
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When breakfast time finally came, both the girls and the guys were very tired. They had been up all night talking to their respective friends, and now was the time for them to take into action their different plans. But as they tried to leave the Head's dorms, they all bumped into each other. With disgruntled shoves and pushes, they were all standing up and straightening out their clothes. Since it was still the weekend, they could wear whatever they liked, and so the girls decided to wear cute little outfits that would have the boys attentions, but not have boys all over them. On the other hand, the boys were wearing jeans and button down shirts, which showed a lot of muscle. As Hermione and Ginny were opening the portrait door to leave, Hermione looked back and saw Draco looking at her. Recently, whenever their eyes met Hermione would see that instead of hard eyes which would shut in emotion, she would see soft eyes with a smile in them. "It's so strange," thought Hermione. "But I guess it's nice in a way." As Hermione was about to look back at the door, something caught her eye. Draco's body. "Man, how often does he work out? He is looking go-od! Wait, what am I thinking? We are just friends. Good friends. Nothing more," and so Hermione went back to the door and opened it, leaving with Ginny and the boys close behind.
As they got down to breakfast, Hermione saw someone and instantly felt guilt. Chris. Wanting to look anywhere but at him, she looked up at the enchanted roof. The roof of course showed what the sky outside looked like, and today it was sunny but you could tell that it would start raining later in the day. After staring at the roof for a minute or two, Ginny was about to dragged Hermione over to the Griffindor table, when Professor Dumbledore stepped in front of the pair.
"Good morning Professor," Hermione said, trying the best to put a smile on her face.
"Good morning to you both," replied Dumbledore. "Miss Weasley, I was wondering if I could please borrow your friend Miss Granger for a moment or two,"
"Sure," shrugged Ginny and walked over to Harry. Once she was gone, Dumbledore started to pull Hermione out of the hall with him. As they reached outside the doors, Dumbledore kept pulling Hermione up to a place Hermione had never been in the castle. The professor said a password and they began to walk up some stairs that appeared before them. Once they reached the top, Hermione realised that this was Dumbledore's office. It was amazing – Hermione wished that she had more reasons to be in this office at a later date, but alas, she could think of none.
"Miss Granger, may I call you Hermione? Please take a seat,"
"Professor Dumbledore, we have been through this before – you may certainly call me Hermione,"
"Thank you, and please, call me Albus,"
"So what is this about, Albus?"
"I have some bad news for you Hermione; some very bad news. I wish I didn't need to tell you, but I am sure you would find out eventually, so it is better to hear it now,"
"What is it Professor?" said Hermione, fear filling her whole being.
"It's your mother, Hermione. Last night she was killed by Lord Voldemort."
Hermione froze in shock. Soon utter despair consumed her mind, and she started to cry.
"Wwww-why?" asked Hermione, too shaken up to say more.
"Because Lord Voldemort wants to kill the heart of the one witch in the world who could cause his death. Don't get me wrong – there is still Harry and Ron, who are also destined to do away with Voldemort, but you will play such a strong part in his down coming that it might as well have been you who killed Voldemort,"
"But if my heart is broken, how am I meant to be of any use?"
"You use the heart break and turn it against him. Don't forget Miss Granger, your heart may be broken once, and you may feel it forever, but your heart will be broken many times over the years, and you just have to deal with it,"
"Thank you for telling me professor,"
"That's alright Hermione; and don't forget, you can talk to me anytime. Just say my name and I will hear you. Oh, and take some candy with you," And with that said, Hermione made her way out of Dumbledore's office, to go eat some breakfast.
As she was sitting down to eat, Hermione was trying to cover up her tears. She didn't want to cry in front of her friends – she only wanted to cry with Chris. But something distracted her. Ginny was talking to someone with a mask on! Lucky for Ginny, Harry was no where in sight, and so when the boy in the mask asked Ginny to come talk with him, she of course agreed.
Once Ginny was gone, Hermione was all by herself. Most people had left breakfast by now, but she had only just started. As she was about to have her first bite of toast, someone tapped her on the shoulder. To her delight and horror it was Chris. Without using words, Hermione could tell that Chris knew she was upset. As he grabbed her hand and asked her to come with him outside, Hermione instantly agreed like Ginny had, and they began to walk outside.
Once they were sitting beside the lake, Chris asked the question Hermione was expecting:
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing,"
"Come on baby, tell me," said Chris, gathering her in his arms, hugging her from behind. Then the tears began to fall heavily from her eyes. Hermione cried and cried and cried and after half a minute Chris sighed impatiently.
"Now tell me Hermione – what's wrong? I have things I have to do today,"
'Well so-rry for holding you up then,"sniffled Hermione.
"Come on, you know it's not like that. But please, just spit it out,"
"No. Your being an asshole. Not to mention, you've been one for the whole week,"
"You know, I have an idea on how to make you happy and to remember how much you like me..." smirked Chris, looking up and down at Hermione in her tightish outfit.
"CHRIS! I AM HAVING AN EMOTIONAL CRISIS AND ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT IS SEX! WHAT THE HELL! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OLD CHRIS? THE ONE WHO LOVED ME FOR WHO I AM, NOT FOR WHAT HE WANTS ME TO BE?"
"Hey, cool it mudblood," said Chris, and then realising what he had just said, tried to cover it up, but before he had a chance, Hermione was standing up and leaving. But so that he wouldn't have the last word, Hermione told Chris one last thing.
"You know Chris, to you, I may just be a toy and a little mudblood, but from now on, to everyone, you will be plain muck, not worth a thing, because you have just become your own worst enemy," and off walked Hermione without looking back.
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Hermione was forced to go back into the Great Hall, because she had left her mobile phone in there when she had tried to call her dad. She couldn't stop the tears from running down her face. She didn't want anyone to see her crying. And who knew who would be still eating breakfast and see her? In the end she had no choice. As she walked into the Great Hall, she began to calm down a bit, just lightly sobbing. She walked over to where she had been sitting and found her phone. Before she left she tried checking her messages and found that her dad had just messaged her, telling her more information on her mother's death. Then her self control was gone. Her full on tears were back and she ran up to the heads room to cry in private, luckily not running into anyone along the way.
Little did she know that Draco was still eating breakfast with Blaise. He couldn't stop thinking about Hermione. About their dance. About their kiss. Oh, why was life so cruel? Draco and Blaise were in deep conversation when Draco heard sniffling enter the Great Hall. "Great, another pathetic first year who lost his teddy. At least I get to tease him," and so he looked towards the location of the sniffles. But instead of a young student he saw the girl who was controlling his mind. He was intrigued. Why was she crying? And why did he care? Sure, they were friends, but he was still Draco, and he was still out to get her for how she had embarrassed him on the first day back.
Without realising it, Draco had not be participating in his and Blaise's conversation. He only noticed when Blaise was practically shouting at him.
"Yo, what's up with you man? What's more interesting than hearing about my love life?"
"What? Oh nothing. Well, actually, you know, anything is more interesting than your love life,"
"Ha ha. No, come one. Seriously, what's distracting you?"
"Her," said Draco, pointing at Hermione.
"Aww, that's so sweet. You can't stop thinking about her. Wow, I never thought I would see your mind fixed on Hermione,"
"Shut up fool! Can't you see? She's upset!" and once he completed his last word, Hermione burst into tears and ran off. Without thinking, Draco ran after her, wanting to find out what was wrong. "Boy, what is wrong with me? Why do I care? She's just a mudblood – just stupid smart ass Granger," But he still continued on after her until he reached the Head's dorms. As he walked into the common room, he found Hermione sitting in front of the fire place, crying. "Wow," Draco observed. "Even when she's upset, she's beautiful." Cautiously Draco walked up to Hermione and sat next to her. But she didn't even notice; she was crying too hard. Without his approval, his arms wrapped around Hermione's body, hugging her.
Hermione didn't know who she was hugging, but she didn't care at the moment. All she wanted to do was cry and then die. First, her mother, whom she had always loved and was one of her best friends had died, and second, her boyfriend had broken her heart because he only wanted to use her. Hermione felt like she could take not more of the world. She just wanted it all to end. After crying for over 5 minutes, she could cry no more – her body wouldn't let her. She just sat there hugging whoever it was she was hugging. All she could tell was that this person was a guy. He was so warm. So muscular.
All the while Draco kept holding her. He stroked her back like his mother used to do when he was younger, whenever Draco was beat up by his father. He had loved his mother so dearly – she was the only person who had really ever cared for him when he was a young child. He knew what pain felt like, and he could tell Hermione was going though a lot of pain, whatever it was. So he stayed where he was, providing safety while stroking her back and running his hand through her hair. As she had grown older, her hair had turned from a huge mess of curls to beautiful loose curls, which hit the light in any position. Once she had stopped crying, and had stopped shaking, Draco pulled her away from him just enough so that he could look into her eyes.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
"Oh Draco, why are you here? And why are you comforting me? It doesn't make sense,"
"Because we are friends, and friends help each other through the hard times," but in his head, Draco realised something. He really did like her, as more than just a friend. He realised he just wanted to keep her in his arms forever and ever and always be there for her. But he knew that he couldn't. She would never let him; because he had treated her so badly over the past 6 years, she would never be able to get past those bad times.
"So what's up?"
"You don't want to know. I just needed someone to cry with, so thank you for coping with me,"
"Hey! I do so want to know, otherwise I wouldn't have asked what's wrong. And besides, you can't keep problems bottled up inside of you – otherwise you may explode, and we don't want that to happen, do we?" joked Draco, trying to make Hermione happy.
Hermione nuzzled her head into his shoulder and mumbled something. Draco couldn't hear her so she spoke louder.
"When I got to breakfast this morning, Professor Dumbledore took me to his office and told me my mother is dead, and was killed by Voldemort. Then, when Chris tries to comfort me, he is still trying to pressure me into sex, and doesn't care that I'm upset. I realised that he only wanted to use me, so I dump him. And now my heart is broken twice in one day, and I feel like ending it all."
"Wait wait wait. I am NOT going to let you end it all. That is the easy way out, but the dumb way out. What would the world do if it's greatest witch was gone? No, you need to survive, and I know you will. Because you are strong. You may not realise it yet, but I know you are. I mean, come on, it's obvious that Chris has tried to lay you a million times this week, and you were strong enough to stand your ground and say no. And I know lots of people who totally respect you for that, me included,"
"Thanks Draco, you are such a good friend. I'm really glad that we have become friends this year. I could tell that you did have a nice side of you somewhere, but I just never knew if I would every get to see it," and with that she fell back onto him and cried a little more. Draco felt so bad. True, his plan to ruin her relationship with Chris had gone perfectly, but he didn't really think through how badly it would affect Hermione. Worst still, the climax of his plan was just after her mother died. Maybe one day he would tell Hermione that it was his fault that Chris was how is now – but not for a long time. Once she had finished crying, Draco made a suggestion.
"How about we have a day in, and we can watch some movies and just lie around near the fire. Besides, it looks like it's gonna rain soon anyway," It was true – Hermione had predicted it right that the clouds would soon cover the sky.
"Okay, as long as we have junk food,"
"Affirmative. What movies would you like to see?" and with that their movie day began. They watched movies from all kinds of different genres – chick flicks, sci fi, drama, romance, action, comedy, and horror. The horror movie was Draco's favourite movie – Hermione got so scared that he had to comfort her, holding her very close to him during the scary parts. The best part of all though was that a thunderstorm started half way through the day, so they sat on the same couch to keep more warmth between them – and also because Hermione was utterly scared of thunderstorms. A few people tried to visit the two of them, but they wouldn't let anyone in – this was their day to relax and have good company.
That night, as the time reached nearly midnight, Hermione was asleep across Draco's lap. He was stroking her hair again, and as the last movie ended, he lifted her up and took her up to her room. But he faced a problem – he didn't know her password, so in the end, he had to take her up to his room. He careful tucked her into his bed, imagined up bouquets of flowers covering the whole room except for the bed and door, and lightly kissed her on the lips in a loving way. Then he quietly walked out of his room and collapsed onto the couch.
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So a lot happened in this chapter, didn't it? Friendship, trickery, death, break-ups, gossip, and more! Sorry if it moved along too quickly. I just didn't want you guys getting bored with the story, and half of the story would have been in a separate chapter, but I just couldn't figure out how to split it all up and to still make sense. Oh well, so three major things happened in one chapter. I hope that keeps you guys happy for a few more days since I can't write more this weekend cos of work. Please review and stay tuned! Also, if you review, I'll leave you a message telling you when the next chapter comes out! Love yiz, Grace.