It was with much procrastinating, and much defeat that Hermione finally bowed her head and sought out her best mates for a bit of one on one time that she's so carefully avoided and had managed to dodge so far. Truthfully, she hadn't been trying to ignore them, quite the opposite really, but for as much as she loved both Harry and Ginny alike, she'd unfortunately found better ease hiding out with Malfoy than confiding in them like she should have s after a quick owl, and a good much needed changing once she'd managed to make her way back to her parents flat, Hermione was off to face the music and do just that. After all, when one leaves her friends hanging so dramatically, she probably shouldn't show up wearing the sweats of their former enemy the morning after. In that former enemies very own words, she had 'enough shit to deal with already.'
The once sparkling lights remained dull and lifeless inside the all but vacant bar that Harry had rented out the night prior when Hermione had finally aparated to track them down. Her ever searching eyes had to squint to make anything out in the darkness, scanning the emptiness greeting her back.
"Gin?" Hermione called out into the room, her voice echoing off the walls around her as she drug her head around the vast empty tables already swiped clean. Hermione felt her stomach clutch a bit, sighing a weak breath while she motioned a bit more into the room, glancing over the large, almost over filled trash bags littering in a pile at the corner of the bar. It seemed Harry and Ginny had already done most of the clean up but considering she'd left them in the middle of a party that she'd already promised to help host, she'd hoped that helping scour afterwards might make a bit of difference in her soon to be trial, she was sure, but it seemed they hadn't left her the option.
"Hermione?" It was Harry's voice that questionably called out first, drawing her attention up sharply as she glanced around the back where she'd sworn she'd heard him.
"Harry?" She suddenly felt like yelling Marco and dodging between tables but she fought the childish urge the moment the dark, unmistakable mess of hair popped around the back corner. He was a not much more than a shadow in the bleakness, the only light breaking in through the closed drapes of the windows just willing the sun back down.
"Hermione!" Harry was much more ecstatic to see her than she'd previously thought he would be, nearly jumping out of the doorway he was stuck behind, those bright emerald eyes darting wildly as he started a heightened pace towards her but not before yelling behind his shoulder to Ginny finishing up in the other room, "Hermione's in here!"
"Harry, hey…" Harry stood tall a good amount of inches on her but she was thankful for his warm embrace when he'd fully rushed it into her, wrapping his comforting arms tightly along her waist to pull her in against his chest. Hermione's slender limbs wrapped a crossed Harry's broad shoulders, smiling into the warm material of his knitted sweater vest, sighing as he brought his hands to her face, cupping her as he tilted his own head back to address her.
"We've been so worried about you…oh Hermione, what happened?" And just like that, Hermione felt that smile twitching the corners of her mouth downward, tightening as her eyes lowered to the floor but Harry was having none of that, staring through her, carefully touching the newly revisual bruise along her face.
"'Mione!" Ginny was far less coordinated than Harry when she'd popped from inside the bar's kitchen, nearly tripping over her own feet to rush out onto the bar floor. Her small feet skidded to a stop at the side of her boyfriend, nearly tearing his shoulder back before enveloping Hermione into her own hug, mumbling out the same words Harry had just previously uttered. "Harry and I went back to find Ron after you left…"
"With Malfoy…" Harry interjected but he shut his lips firmly when Ginny set her snarling glare straight to the center of his head.
"…anyways, yes, with Malfoy but Ron said you guys broke up." Well, it seemed she wasn't under the interrogation light, yet, so to speak. Hermione had known the two beings in front of her well too closely for far too many years and she knew well enough that if Ginny Weasley was upset with her, truly upset with her, even in the slightest, that she would have already adopted a tone much similar to her mother's but as it stood, she reserved her soft voice to the air of the room with a saddened look pinned on her porcelain toned face.
Hermione nodded her head long before she moved to give a verbal answer, standing there, holding Ginny's face in her hands as Ginny held her own, sadly wincing at each other in the heart ache leaking from Hermione's words, "It's over, Gin. It really is this time."
"Let me guess, you guys got into it about Malfoy again?" Harry absently pressed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, questioning softly at Ron's usual temper.
"No, not exactly." Hermione's slender hands slid from Ginny's embrace when she moved to answer Harry, sighing as she folded them along her mid section, curling a bit into herself. "He left me actually. He left to be with someone else."
"Excuse me?" Ah, there was the Molly Weasley voice completed with Ginny slamming her small fists into her hips, shifting her weight on to a single leg with a single brow inched high in incredibility. How exactly did you tell your best friend, who just so happened to be the man in questions only blood sister, that he is a cheating bastard? You simply can't. Despite the fact that Ronald Weasley did not deserve one ounce of decency from her, she simply couldn't break Ginny's heart with the Merlin's honest truth about her brother. She couldn't cause an even bigger rift between the friendship that they'd all fought so hard to hold tight to especially after all they'd managed to make it through.
"I went over to surprise Ron last night and he said he wanted to talk when I'd got there." Hermione tried to explain again with much more caution, turning her eyes between both Ginny and Harry alike as she did, "He said that obviously we had been better friends, and this was messing everything up, so it would be best if we called it quits." The words nearly made her own lip curl in disgust as she lied so wildly for him.
"You said he left you for someone else." Ginny stood firm in the space her feet had grounded, somehow managing to incline her brow upwards a hair to the question as Harry nervously moved to place his hand lovingly along her shoulder, hoping to calm the familiar fire that was steaming behind her feisty eyes.
"Well, he said things weren't really working out so we decided to break up. He's was going to try to be with someone else now. Lavender Brown."
"That slag!" And just like that, Ginny tossed her hands and her condemning stare right up in the air. The moment Hermione bent the truth to appear as if he'd actually given her the decency of waiting until he broke her heart to find a mate, Ginny had instantly swung back round to Hermione's defense. Harry, however, found himself a bit caught up on all the hazy details however.
"Where does Malfoy come into this? And none of that explains what happened to your face, Hermione."
"Malfoy doesn't come into this." Hermione turned her face and attention to Harry fully, watching Ginny questioning the exchange out of the corner of her ever watchful eye as she attempted to bypass the later question. "I just ran into Draco at our party and he said he was leaving so I asked him to take me. Honestly, I was upset and the last thing I wanted to do was see Ron, talk to Ron, or think about Ron…He knew I was upset when I left and I knew he'd try to seek me out to make sure I was alright so I decided to just disappear for the night, I guess." Hermione trailed on, waving her hand at the detail.
Harry could understand that much but then again he understood far more about Hermione and Ron, not to mention their relationship, than he was sure even they did sometimes. Still, Hermione was lying through the skin of her teeth and they both knew it so Harry boldly questioned on. "Alright, so Malfoy agrees to take you somewhere you don't have to deal with Ron…and then decides to be your bodyguard all night?"
Hermione drew her bottom lip in between her teeth, chewing against it in a heated thought process debating in her head but Harry only shook his head. He also knew far too much about Hermione and her insane issues with Malfoy but he always hoped that it would be a later story.
"Hermione…" Harry began slowly, trying to be calm in a conversation he obviously didn't want to have, "…you're just upset and confused right now."There was that word again…confused. Hermione was under the impression that it was Draco Malfoy that was confused, that it was Ronald Weasley that was confused, hell, everyone was confused!
"I am not confused about anything, Harry Potter! We kept running into each other so we had a few drinks together, alright? We just talked a bit. That's it."
"Hermione…Harry's right, don't you think people are going to think it's odd? Seeing you with Malfoy of all people right after you and Ron broke up? I mean you saw the Prophet this morning, didn't you?" The airy lightness in Ginny's voice was odd, her hand now resting on Harry's shoulder, switching their roles in a matter of seconds but Hermione only shrugged her indifference, tightening her arms along her body with a flick of her head to send the errant strands of chocolate curls back from shoulders.
"Yes, I read it. It's a bunch of rubbish that I've never read too much into anyways so why am I supposed to now?" Oh but Hermione did care far too much about that blasted article, no matter how nice those carefully followed photo reels appeared to be.
"And let me guess…Malfoy could care less about you two being publically romanticized all over the wizarding world? How do you think Ron is going to feel when he reads it?"
Hermione paused for a moment; frozen in her awestruck astonishment as she stared at Harry hard, slack jawed and stunned, attempting to shake the stars of his assault off. How would Ron feel? He was joking, right? "I imagine that since he is going to be lying with another woman every night that it wouldn't hurt him too much to imagine that I might move on too. And no, Harry, as a matter of fact, Draco does not give a damn about the article."
"Of course Malfoy doesn't give a flying fuck about it! Why the bloody hell would he?"Harry should have felt a bit ashamed as she reminded him of Ron's choice of actions after parting ways when one of their closest members to what they called a family but the thought of them actually not being together was not something that Harry was sure he could process currently.
"Because it's a bullshit article, Harry! For being so fucking smart, you really are clueless sometimes." It seemed Draco was right. They shouldn't have been there bashing her nor her actions, they should have been supporting her, telling her they were happy she had someone to keep her from throwing her body of the nearest cliff thanks to their horribly wired friend.
"Hermione the only thing Malfoy wants is revenge. He wants to use you, hurt us, and destroy everything like he normally does and so far it looks like he's succeeding." Harry had had conversations very similar to this with Hermione before but they were always so quiet and vacant, much more like a soft reminder not to bother thinking of the man more than a warning like it was now. "What could Draco possibly want from you? Break us all up to get the final hooray? To get information? Payback against his daddy? What? An aire? Because I imagine his pureblood genes are so drastically fucked up now that he'd have to procreate with a half witch in order to even have a child that lived past its first breath."
Hermione's hand landed so sharply against the table that even Ginny twitched her hands up to cover her mouth from letting out a startled gasp. "You listen here, Harry Potter…Draco Malfoy has not laid a finger on me and for your information, I sought him out, not the other way around so if anyone was using anyone…it's me. I mean really, Harry! Do you really think so lowly of me that you can't imagine that maybe, just maybe, there is a small, teensy, tiny possibility that someone else might find a little pleasure in my company? Am I really so awful of a friend that you can't understand why anyone, including Draco Malfoy, would choose to be friendly with me for reasons that weren't against you?"
"Can you please stop calling him Draco?" Hermione stood still at Harry's request like she hadn't even heard it with that insatiable question of hers glued against her subtle features and broadcasting straight at him. "I'm sorry, Mione," Harry left the words fall deaf in the room, hanging in the air as he drew a sharp breath of air into his lungs.
The moment the phrase left Harry's lips, Hermione instantly felt silly. His warm face swept a solemn wave a crossed the concern straining behind the frames of his glasses. He had every right t o be judging Malfoy in this type of situation, whatever the hell it was, and she knew it but she had just fought side by side with the very man before her, questioning her as well.
"You really think it's done though? Between you and Ron?" His words were still biting at the back of his throat, trying to understand without boiling over with his never ending concern.
"Yes, Harry, I think it's really over but I think it's all for the best." Hermione did her best to raise her voice into a more chipper tune but it didn't do a very good fact in covering how badly she was lying outright. It had obviously taken a lot of pride swallowing strength for Harry to drop his argument so Hermione figured that a little false assuring was the least she could do.
"Well, we're pretty much finished here. Harry asked the house elves if they'd take the trash out back already so we were going to stop next door to the restaurant and grab something to eat. Are you hungry? You've got to be…" Ginny wasn't sure whether she wanted to grab Harry and plant her lips on his high cheekbone for taking one for the sake of his friends happiness for the moment or to wince at the tension that was still hanging above them in the room so she figured breaking the ice with the offering of sustenance would be her closest bet at splitting the difference.
It'd been a long morning with Granger's tirade still hovering in the air and that was saying the very least. For the first time in countless nights, Draco had managed to actually get a few hours of rest with her beside him and those precious minutes of much needed slumber had been completely without the unforgiving screams he was growing far too accustomed to being awoken with. Now, however, she'd managed to snatch whatever calmness she had over him away and toss it right out the open door when she went waltzing back into her own little world. For about an hour after she'd left, Draco had paced his apartment, trying to convince himself that it was simply for the fact that he'd consumed such a large amount of liquor the night prior that had left him in such an easy state but much to Draco's own knowledge already, Draco found his own reflection in the hallway mirror feeling the need to point out that he had spent a good month trying that very technique and it always failed miserably so there was no need to go trying to make him believe it decided to work just this once. What could he say? Sulking around caught up on a witch who had clearly made her own choice before slamming his door so unladylike behind her was not suitable attire that Draco was so willing to strut on so easily.
For the better part of his life, Draco moved by the seat of his pants, at his own accord and as he so pleased. He'd strived to always get what he wanted, in one shape or form, and he'd do it all on his own sweet time. Woman, money, power…all when he felt the desire to. Well, until Hermione Granger had to come along a screw everything up. From the moment her screams cried out against his family manor's cold stone walls, she'd dug her way into his head and poisoned it with tiny, lingering images of her. Blaise and Pansy had been right all along about the matter and deep down he knew it. He should have just left it alone, he should have left Granger alone but she'd approached him at the bar! It wasn't his fault she'd decided to bring it all up again, was it? Why couldn't he have just walked away and let it all stay buried in his head with the small price of never being able to sleep soundly again?
Draco managed to get a few owls out to Pansy and Blaise, once he was done thoroughly trashing his loft, to ensure they had made it back somewhere safe but Granger's voice was still ringing in his ears, haunting him far worse than his dreams could dare hope to come close to. Each wall of plaster his fist pummeled through, every painting he'd hurled from the walls, and every piece of furniture he'd flipped, tossed, and kicked only brought him closer and closer to the realization that this was indeed, his own fault. By the time Draco had finished ranting, and damn near destroying everything his hands could lift or shove, he was left with nothing more than bloody knuckles, panting breath, and a dull ache burning at his core.
What the hell did he expect from her, after all? She'd been through hell far before Weasel ever touched her and his only former effort was supposed to be to comfort her, to be there for her. When did everything get so fucked up that he actually stood in his own kitchen yelling at her? And for what? Because he felt rejected? Perhaps a part of him did but that was entirely a new sensation for the Prince of Pride and it was not an emotion he was truly equipped to handle. All he did was stand there convincing her that he was just as confused as she was, tripping over his words and complicating her world more than he'd intended to but wasn't that exactly what she was doing to his very lively hood?
The wiring in Draco's already over active brain was beginning to run faulty as he gave in and collapsed his weight down on to his knees in a pile of his own destruction and thoughts there in the middle of his living room floor with the residual thought that he was angry with himself for not being strong enough to admit to her what he wanted.
"Please excuse Tinky, Miss. Granger..." Hermione's fork nearly dropped from her hand at the small squeaking voice of the house elf reaching up to give the skirt of her cream dress a small tug. The startled expression quickly disappeared the moment the floppy eared creature smiled broadly, holding out an envelope at arm's length to her at the side of the table Harry, Ginny, and herself had been seated at. "There was a delivery for you."
"Thank you very much, Tinky. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to bring this to me." Hermione's soft eyes brimmed to the elf, placing the envelope down in her lap as Ginny shot Harry a tossed expression. Hermione loved those little things like they were children. Every time she saw one, her eyes brightened with tears and she smiled so hard that the young Weasley was sure that one of these times her teeth were going to crack in pieces.
"It is not problem, Miss! Tinky is glad to help Miss. Granger and Mr. Potter!" There was a brief moment of pause at the table as they all weakly waved, grimacing inwardly, as Tinky made her way back through the restaurant to disappear behind the large, always swinging, kitchen doors. For that one small instance, they all were reminded of their recent passing months, almost cringing to wait for the house elf to admit she was a friend to Dobby or someone else they all wished they could have protected so they were thankful when she'd chose to get back to some task instead. They always knew when it was coming…whoever it was, forcing them to remember, they always identified the trio in the room personally, thanking them and ignoring the other faces present. It was like a warning sign that came fully stocked with blaring buzzers and flashing, neon strobe lights.
"Who's it from?" Ginny raised her brows as she carefully moved a spoonful of soup into her mouth, leaning forward a crossed her bowl with far more grace than her brother possessed.
"Oh, yeah." Hermione brought her hand the smack the center of her forehead, laughing a bit at her own absentmindedness. "I got a little distracted…" Harry chuckled a bit, watching as her dark curls fell forward a long her shoulders as she bent her head to pop the thick, red wax seal along the back, holding the questionable contents inside. He still wasn't entirely sure what had happened to truthfully cause his two best mates in this natural, and too often far unnatural, world to part ways but he was at least a little thankful for the fact that one of them was no longer in a pile of tears.
While she wasn't kicking her shoes off in comfort, Hermione seemed to let herself relax in their company as all of them tried to prepare themselves for Hogwarts in the coming days, enjoying a bite of food but that small strain of tension that always sharpened around the almond shape of her eyes twitched when she popped the letter out and opened it inside her lap beneath the surface of the table. Harry fought the urge to strain a crossed the plates to see what it was she was looking at but it seemed his girlfriend had missed the smooth memo and was already doing just that much to her disappointment that she still could see nothing.
"What is it?"
"It's uh…" Hermione felt herself frown a bit, her mouth pursing off to a single side as she lifted her eyes to the familiar softness of Ginny's as she answered with a bit more certainty, shrugging a bit all the while. "It's from Malfoy."
"No way!" Ginerva Weasley was the closest person to a female best friend that Hermione had ever had and she certainly was living up to the part as she clasped her hands on either side of her plate, her eyes wide as she demanded, "What's it say?" Harry's scowl to her was far less thrilled and Ginny mouthed a sorry before completely waving it off and turning her attention back along Hermione.
"Nothing much. Wanted to know if I wanted to have dinner." The words came out so nonchalantly, trailing her eyes back down to the letter resting open in her lap.
I'm not confused.
We should talk.
Dinner?
-DM
That was it. Three short sentences, if you could call them that, but they were enough to send her pulse panicking again. She suddenly felt the urge to look behind her shoulder and check beneath the table but she swallowed and forced a small smile up against her lips as Ginny commented off handedly, "Sorry about him, we beat him to it."
"Why does he want to take you to dinner now? This is starting to get a little too bazaar for me." Harry couldn't help but question her once again as Hermione casually searched her purse for her wand, trying to appear un bothered by Harry's quickly changing demeanor as she moved her hand to scribble a quick note back.
"Who knows? Maybe he's bored." Hermione lied a bit, sighing as she debated both the words to come from her hand and the ones ready to come from her mouth, "…He's just being…nice. Well, for Malfoy." The words sounded foreign even to her as they trickled out, drawing her bottom tier in to clench between rows or pearled teeth.
"That's what I'm worried about, Hermione. I'm worried about just how nice Malfoy is trying to be with you."
"Harry, stop." Ginny didn't warn him like she normally would have scolded her brothers or anyone else but she simply told him.
"Gin, if we broke up and the next day I saw you plastered all over The Prophet on the arm of Malfoy, smoking for Merlin's sake…well…" Hermione nearly scoffed as he attempted to rationalize his rising temper to the unconcerned red head glaring straight back at him as she stomped out, "Well, nothing! I would never. And we would never so don't you even say that." No, they wouldn't and that would never happen but then again, Harry would have never betrayed Ginny nor would he have done any of the countless horrible things Ron had inflicted against her so what it really a good comparison?
"Hermione…this is like Stockholm's syndrome."
"Oh my God, Harry! Draco did not kidnap me at any point of last night and do you want to hear something funny?" Harry's face drew a step back at Hermione's coy smile, her head tilting to the side in the slightest as she folded her hands over the letter resting in her lap. Ginny turned her head slowly, eerily moving her eyes to watch Harry as he debated with great perplexing thoughts what it was that Hermione could possibly find funny right now, in the middle of this argument, at this very moment. "He has never said a bad word about you. Any of you, really, at least not in front of me." Harry wasn't sure how to take what she'd just said but he was beginning to have the sinking feeling he wasn't going to like it if far more came out. "As a matter of fact, he doesn't really say a bad word about anyone but then again I'm pretty sure losing your father, the threat of this kiss or a stealthy stay at Azkaban, which he's already spent a small stint in, if you've forgotten, and being left to fend for yourself would do that to someone."
"Merlin, Hermione, listen to yourself. You are actually sounding like you feel bad for Malfoy right now!"
"I don't feel bad for him." Hermione kept her sights level on Harry, staring straight through him while Ginny stood on the side lines, helpless in the battle between them. "I feel bad for you, Harry." The words could have come attached to a nuke and they still wouldn't have caused much more damage but she wasn't finished just yet. "I feel bad for you because everyone else has had the opportunity to let go of their hate, to try and move past it except for you."
"So what? You two are making plans to move past it together now? By getting drunk all night long? Yes, he sounds like he's changed so much." Why was she getting so angry? She wasn't sure if she wanted to reach a crossed the table and smack Harry for the fact that he was so boldly questioning her rationality and sanity at the moment or for the fact that he was talking so lowly of Malfoy after everything he'd already done for her. Yes, alright, they had drank every night they'd spent in each other's company and she'd fallen asleep quickly beside him thanks to the dreamy state it'd put her in but in the defense of it, she'd only really come to him when she was hurt and truthfully in need of a good drink not to mention the fact that Draco had downright refused to even remotely get intimate with her because of it, whether he was claiming to want it or not now.
"Who we talking about?" The smoldering heat in Hermione's glare shifted irritably at the interrupting voice until she saw the glum expression ginger haired head slide around behind Harry, drawing his attention too as he smoothed into the scene. "Harry, hey, Gin…Hey, Hermione…"
Just bloody fantastic. All at once her stomach fell to the pit of her stomach, all the tiny hairs on her body stood up on end leaving her skin stinging in the anticipation. How could this day really get any worse? She couldn't help the fierce roll in her eyes as her hands shoved her seat back from the table, the letter and envelope alike clutching in her hand as she set to feet.
"Mione, please wait." Ron had begun to move around the side of Harry and Hermione hadn't missed the weak moment of debate as Harry lifted his hand to stop him but he only found it lost in the air as Ron moved to catch her arm instead just as she whirled to exit. It was with a sharp tug that she tore her limb back from him, tearing it away like his touch was burning holes through the exposed flesh of her forearm.
"Keep your hands off of me, Ronald Weasley. I told you. I've had quite enough of all of this for one evening." It was partially her own fault…had she just explained to them the truth of the matter, well, no, if she had told them they wouldn't have been here in the first place.
Ron held his hands up defensively, trying to keep them in her plain sight as he cautiously talked, appearing so calm and chivalrous to all but her own knowing mind, "I just want to talk. I just wanted to make sure you were alright…"
"Don't do it, mate." Blaise's hand clasped Draco's shoulder far faster than his muscles had a chance to twitch a motion like he'd beckoned them to at the disgusting length of that scum's fingers coiling around Hermione's arm. His own slender digits gripped a fierce hold along the balcony railing there in the chic little restaurant he and Blaise thought would be a good change of pace for a drink or two versus the disaster that had become Malfoy's palace while he waited for her answer after bowing his head in defeat and owling her. Draco was beginning to feel a fiery burn flaring his knuckles white against his tightening grip, his breath huffing slowly at the need for retaliation. He had no idea Blaise's choice came with a free show but it had him on the edge of his seat, watching from the depths of the shadows from his high perch above, wishing to be in the cast suddenly.
For a good few minutes when Draco first spotted her, he'd fought the urge to grace down and tell Potter just where he could stick his condescending wand but she honestly seemed relaxed and so he simply stood, watching her quietly as she laughed with them but it wasn't long before his stalking sights triggered down onto the one thing that was standing in his way of her. Draco's brain relapsed into a pure animalistic urge with trigger intent at the very sight of Ronald Weasley but the moment his touch neared Hermione, Draco thought he'd simply crack.
Blaise's hand never left his shoulder, his finger tips pressing in against the thin fabric of his suit jacket to hold him at bay as he watched the small exchange. Granger was doing everything in her power not to boil over at the seams now from the looks of it but it was Draco's twitching fury that he was honestly worried about.
"Ron…" Ginny was trying to sound reasoning as Hermione firmly shook her head for the millionth time, firmly denying his request from her.
"I don't have anything to say to you, not now at least so please just leave me alone." Harry moved a hand to motion once again towards Ron's arm, beginning to climb from his seat as he gave it a bit of a soft tug, trying to remind him nervously of their semi public surroundings but Ron paid him no mind.
"Harry, stop, I'm just trying to talk to her." Ron reached to snatch her arm once again, hauling her back a step towards him as he brushed off Harry's hand all the while. "I'm just trying to talk to you…why are you acting so childish?" He was actually calling her childish?
The calm façade that Draco was straining to hold under was boiling beyond his control. His blood had been boiling at an alarming temperature for well over a better day and a half thanks to this very situation but he wasn't quite sure he was going to be able to keep it at bay far longer. It was a dangerous moment for Draco, with the conscious thoughts of Azkaban, the work and sacrifice he'd already given in to just to exist in this world, and the unsteady outcome of her hatred towards him with his desires currently, but he still could think of nothing more than watching Weasley bleed on the ground below him.
"Ron, let her go, this isn't the time." Ginny rationalized again, sounding a bit irritated as she gave Harry a rather incredulous look, trying to get him to stop this before it became worse.
"Shut up, Gin. Hermione seriously…"
Hermione's soft cheeks, the single side still bitterly broadcasting its deep shade out, scrunched up as she turned her head away from Ron's lying, cheating face. With a deep scoff, her eyes rolled hard to the back of her head as she sighed out at him harshly.
"Can you just shut up for two minutes, Ronald?" Without hesitation, the small witch yanked her arm free, tucking her purse beneath it and straightening her spine as she stood off with him. "If you want to talk then let's go talk…" Ron's flushed face fell a bit sheepish with that condescending tone lacing her words, nodding his head softly to her while he stuffed his hands deep into the pockets of his trousers. He kept his head ducked, trying to give Harry a lopsided smile before he slunk to follow her out of the all too judging eyes.
"What could you possibly want from me? Haven't you done enough?" Hermione moved slowly on her heels once she'd ventured out of the restaurant and far enough down onto the stone walk to appease her need to not make a spectacle.
"I told you that I wanted to make sure you were…" Hermione already knew where that sentence was going long before he finished it so she thrust her hand up to stop him dead before he could even attempt.
"Don't. You are a low life, Ronald Weasley. There are no excuses for what you've done and deep down you know that so no amount of pretending to be worrying for me now will make that change but don't worry, I didn't bother to destroy you like you so callously did me. I didn't tell Harry and Ginny so you can go rest easy with your new girlfriend. Well…she's not really new, I suppose."
Ron felt a wave of relief wash over him but it was quickly washed over with a pang of guilt retching in his gut at her words digging into him. "Hermione…do you think we could go somewhere else and talk? Maybe get a drink?"
Hermione almost laughed outright at his complete lack of regard for his actions, her voice barely biting back the fit of giggles she was attempting to suppress, "Oh I don't believe your girlfriend would like that very much. Besides, I have plans."
"Lav is at her mum and dad's tonight, saying goodbye before Hogwarts and all…" Hermione shot him a harsh stare and Ron quickly shifted his weight against him feet with his attempt to bypass his moment of stupidity, "Right, well, maybe I can tag along with you lot?"
"No, Ronald, I'm not going out with Harry and Ginny and no, you certainly are not invited. Please, just do me the bit of humility to just leave me alone." Hermione spoke softly to him in the darkness, watching the confusion wave along his face under the dim glow of the street lanterns.
"Well who did you make plans with then?"
"Honestly, that is none of your concern, now is it? If I decided that I wanted to go out with the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team in one night than that is absolutely not your business because you broke up with me, Ronald Weasley." Ron's head remained tilted down; his eyes up casted at her like a sad puppy dog being scolded with a newspaper.
"It's not like I don't care about you, Hermione…"
"Well I honestly don't give a flying fuck about you right now."
Hermione stood folding her arms tightly along her chest, raising her brows and daring him to make a move but much to her blinded surprise…he did. Ron motioned forward to grab hold of her wrist, pulling her forward to him in a small stumbling exchange of motion.
"How can you say that?" Again with the grabbing…Hermione sighed, growing rather bored of feeling like a rag doll on the other end of his hands but she attempted to tug herself back the moment she'd righted her feet, narrowing her gazes down upon him.
"You do not deserve for me to give a damn about you or anything involving you so get your hands off of me or I swear to Merlin I will…"
"Hermione you know…" Ron's voice started up so strong, so deliberate that Hermione clenched her lids closed to avoid the bewildered heat radiating off of his stare but it seemed that it was a poor mistake. Ron's sentence was cut in half rather abruptly, his grip removing with a hard yank so quickly that she had to fumble to regain her composure once again. In her own vibrating anger, she'd entirely missed the sound of the familiar crack of apparation followed by the loud pop of noise and a thudding slump. Hermione blinked her eyes rapidly to try and take in what it was that had Ron pulling away so fast but it seemed his back was to her. Wait…that wasn't Ron…
"Fuck me…Malfoy? What the fuck are you doing?" Hermione let out a startled gasp as she tilted her head around the back of his shoulder to the fallen body of Ron sprawled backwards on the stone in a dazing wobble beneath his groans. Did he seriously just punch Ron?
"Oh I'm sorry, how terribly rude of me. I should have said hello first." Draco ignored her entirely, advancing on his prey as he attempted to get to his feet but Draco managed to get their first, clutching his fingers down into the material of Ron's shirt to tug him the rest of the way up to his stance.
"Hello, darling. I've missed you too." For the second time, Hermione jumped with a startled gasp echoing out of her mouth as Draco moved in swift motion. She wasn't even sure how he did it honestly but before she could blink, Draco had sent Ron's rather lengthy frame sailing through the nearest pane of glass and into the restaurant in a loud shatter of falling shards. Ron's body smashed onto the tiled floor inside with a deafening crack, Draco's words coldly laughing in the night's darkness, hissing out like leaking poison to vibrate along the back of his throat.
"I thought you were looking for a fight, Weasley! Come on then! What's the matter? Can't hit back unless I've got a pair of knickers on?"
"Draco what the hell are you doing!" Hermione's voice finally startled out watching frantically as she attempted to rush towards him but he once again paid her no attention, moving mindless towards the broken window.
"Draco, stop! What in the bloody hell are you doing?"
"I'm doing what your stupid friends should have done." It was cold and blunt but it boomed in the air that seemed to suffocate around her but just as quickly as he'd said it, he'd moved to duck inside the now open frame, leaving nothing but the tall figure of his back to her and the sound of his steps crunching along the fallen glass.
"Good, you're up." Draco cracked his knuckles with his opposite hand, stretching his neck to either side with a small, mindless shrug.
"What the bloody hell is your problem, ferret?" Ron called out behind his closed fingers along his nose where he'd managed to stand up with the help of Potter who had managed to rush to his aid but Draco simply stood a few feet before them in his picture perfect image of calmness brewing something dark just behind the horizon of those sapphire eyes.
"My problem is simple, Weasley…it's you. I can fix that though…by caving your fucking face in."
"Draco stop!" Ron's face was slowly uncrumping, his confusion a bit more dawning as he whipped his head to Hermione's frantic pleading as she carefully climbed into the scene, attempting not to fall in her heels as she wobbled over the glass.
"Oh I see," Ron tugged at the front of his jumper, straightening it and himself coldly as he lifted his finger forward to her, "It's just as I said then, isn't it? You've been whoring off with Malfoy this whole time."
It happened so quickly that even Potter hadn't a chance to stop Draco from lunging out fully to take Ron down with him to the floor in a loud clap. The few patrons that had been quietly trying to finish their meals while watching the entire display gasped in shock as Draco's fists slammed time and time again down against Ron's face, screaming a line of profanities and a strain of threats so long that they would have made Voldemort blush. Hermione's hands were shaking by the time she'd managed to shove her feet into motion, scrambling to move to attempt to grip one of Draco's arms, without getting hit herself, as he tried to hold true to his promise to pummel Ron's head into the floor.
Harry moved quickly, grasping one of Draco's pummeling fists and prying back with a futile attempt to stop him from literally caving Ron's skull in while he tried to move his arms over his face with little to show for his efforts.
"Got to hit little girls because you can't sleep at night, you son of a bitch? I'll fucking put you to bed, Weasley!"
"DRACO! Stop! Please!" The moment her touch met his arms, he felt the motion halt behind the bone. Draco was kneeled there over a quite conscious but badly battered Ronald Weasley, his fists frozen in the air, his breath panting to the rise and fall of his chest, with either arm trapped between both Hermione and the bloody wonder boy. Slowly, his fingers opened, holding his hands splayed outright, signaling that he was finished, at least for the moment but he growled lowly to the filthy creature below him still before he was satisfied enough to draw back.
"Don't you try to justify your actions by thinking so lowly of her, you pathetic piece of trash. Unlike you, Granger had a little thing called decency and, for reasons unbeknownst to me, respect for you but none of that matters now does it? Because you've already fucked it all up all on your own." Both of Hermione's hands were on Draco's bicep now, trying to pull him back, her eyes sharply swelling with tears as he continued on, frozen in his anger. "Funny thing is, all your insanity…well, I didn't even have to try to break you apart…you sent her right to me so thanks for being such a sorry excuse."
"She'll never be with you, Malfoy." Ron's words gurgled behind the chipped shards of his teeth and it was enough to make Hermione want to hurl but Draco crouched coldly still, his stare only growing darker by the minute, vicious and cruel.
"You touch her again and I'll kill you where you lay."
"That's enough, Malfoy." Draco's muscles were vibrating beneath the surface as he rose to his feet under the touch of her ever tightening grip while Potter suddenly found the courage to speak. Despite the fact that all four of them standing, or laying in Ron's case, around Malfoy had all been on the other end of his never ending spout of hatred, Hermione had never honestly seen his eyes so dark before when he finally stood tall, running his hands along his suit jacket, dusting himself off with a disturbing easiness about him as he set his eyes piercing into her own as he doomed around to face her, tearing his arm away from Harry and brushing his arm from her hold all in the same motion.
"I am not sorry."
"Draco…" Hermione could barely breathe his name, begging him to let it go for as much as Ron deserved every punch delivered straight to that stupid dome of his; this was not helping her case.
"Well, it seems the rumors are true. There's never a dull moment in the life around the Golden Trio, now is there?" It was like a ripple of head snaps and whirling hair as everyone moved their sights to lock against the swaggering, raven haired man flicking his head to glance at them all with a sorted expression shadowed beneath the fringe of his bangs.
"What in the fuck is going on!" Ginny Weasley was beyond herself, raising her head up sharply with a wild strain of tears breaking off her cheeks and down to stain against the bright red fabric of her dress. She'd already moved to run to Harry and Ron's side but Malfoy's words were still ghosting their aftermath in her ears.
"Oh you don't know?" Draco's cold, bitter laughter eased out from between his lips, turning his gaze to Ginny but the new arrival to their commotion moved to speak before he could as he stepped to saunter up to Hermione's side.
"Granger…always a pleasure." Hermione could only nod to Blaise as he smiled his chipper smile to her. It seemed that Zabini was right…there was no one else that she honestly could think of that might be able to tame the beast that could be Malfoy at the moment but she wasn't sure if she would call anything about this pleasurable.
"Blaise…for the love of God, do something."
"No, someone is going to tell me the truth and if it's going to be Malfoy than I guess it's going to be Malfoy so start talking…Malfoy." Harry sounded rather unsure of himself as he attempted to take head of the situation, his brow furrowing in the creasing lines of his forehead.
Draco's casual drawl laughed outright at the thought that they'd honestly felt bad for Ron at all in this. They were completely clueless but why was he surprised? With a mild, single shoulder shrug, Draco opened his hands to Harry, "I tell you what, Potter. I gave you the opportunity to take care of this but since you couldn't keep your dog in his cage and train him not to put his filthy paws on a lady, I was more than happy to step in and oblige to help for a good retraining session. Thank you, honestly…I've been looking forward to that for quite some time."
Ron was barely making it to his feet by now, his arm slung over Ginny's shoulder but his towering height over her offered him little support for a crutch. There was so much blood already caking over his face, and so much more still freely flooding, that Hermione felt the need to shudder as Blaise smoothly moved to rest his hand down along the gentle curve of her lower back as he cleared his throat behind his fisted hand.
"You want to get the fuck out of here, trouble? I'm starting to realize that things tend to get too hot when you're in one place for too long." Hermione frowned inwardly at Blaise's nickname before she frowned quite visibly on the outside at him.
"Ron…what is he talking about? Tell me." Ginny was attempting the keep his head from lulling as he strained to understand who it was that was standing beside Hermione now. Truthfully his encounters with the man were obviously quite limited but he barely even recognized his face. Well, there was a decent amount of swelling sealing his lids closed by each passing minute so he supposed that also might have had something to do with it.
"Draco…" Hermione called to him lightly, beckoning his attention away from the questioning she Weasley. He could barely take his sights off of Harry long enough to catch her take a step into Blaise, shaking her head in disapproval before aparating away in a heavy flash of smoke.
"Go ahead and run to her you fucking loser…" Ron mumbled crossly between his spatters of blood lacing thick lines down the creases of his lips but it only seemed to make Draco's cold smirk etch harder into the chiseled depths of his muscles.
"I can always run to her, Weasley…but she'll always be running from you." There was no pause in his motion as he finished addressing the off expression on Ron's face, boldly answering him back with his off handed comment. Draco simply turned to Harry and nodded his head with that same aire of arrogance waving him off like he hadn't just turned everything, literally, upside down, shrugging and folding his arms along the frame of his chest.
"Sorry, Potter…another time it seems." Oh did he want to tell him all the sorted details and oh did he want to explain to Potter just how low down that flesh bag was but not at her expense so for the second time in 3 days, Draco smoothly closed his eyes and concentrated hard on the one place he could think that Blaise would take her to, aparating without another word and leaving the mess he certainly felt he hadn't started, but simply finished, behind him.
"What the bloody hell is his problem!" Hermione was already in full rant before she'd even found her feet fully planted on the ground. Her hands whirled in the air as she turned to address Blaise, nearly slamming into him as he stood rigid in his position, slowly adjusting his clothing without worry or concern. Hell, he'd barely even lifted an eye brow to her as he fixed himself.
"You're lucky he didn't kill him. I'm surprised he didn't actually…I was almost counting on it. Betting, really. I owe Pansy quite a few chocolate frogs now."
All she could do was groan loudly and stomp her food as she tossed her hands up and into the wild locks of her hair, cupping her head and clenching her scalp all at the same time to try and ease the rising migraine but the loud pop of Draco aparating before her made that task nearly impossible. His eyes were dark and a bit wide as he scanned the room, flinching a bit to find her so close as he motioned to reach out to her but she withdrew much faster as she lifted her forefinger instead to waver in front of him.
"Oh no…you do not touch me either, Draco Malfoy. You've done enough damage."
Draco stood still in his steps, shifting his eyes against Blaise who was so casually watching them exchange their words. "You can't seriously think I'd hurt you…"
"No but violence doesn't solve violence, Draco!" The three of them glanced around the triangle they'd created but none of them said anything. I mean, did she honestly expect Draco to say he'd made a mistake? He hadn't and she knew he felt that he hadn't so that wasn't going to happen. His lips were pursed tightly together, watching her fume behind her raised sights, growing angrier by the second at the silence greeting her from either man so she tried again to continue, "I think you broke his jaw!"
"Awesome. 10 points to the prince." Hermione looked down right incredulous as the two men nearly congratulated themselves, lifting their hands to high five each other over the damage before Draco moved to shrug his arms out at her, his voice falling airy against his slowly calming façade.
"What are you so upset about? I would have killed him but you asked me to stop. So I did." Well, she had pretty much demanded and told him to stop but he'd never admit that, even if both herself and Blaise had been there for the entirety.
"You would have gone to Azkaban." Hermione answered him flatly, watching him out of the corner of her eye as the words slid from her lips, Draco's normally tight posture falling slack as he attempted once again with a small wave of his hand.
"Oh I know that, Granger. Wouldn't be the first time you lot put me there." Blaise's dark eyes sharpened wide beneath the fallen strands of his hair, his lips parting with a coy smirk hinting amongst his words as Draco dropped the conversation to a dangerous place.
"It was going to happen one way or another, Granger. Be happy that it's over and done with now. He got his, you can move on."
Hermione set her sights against Blaise, shaking her head with a small snort. What was going to happen? Malfoy beating up Ron or Ron getting beaten up? It didn't matter which it was because Hermione was not happy about it either way. Well, alright, it gave her a small stint of satisfaction to watch him cower to Draco like she'd felt herself do so many times but that shaking fear that the waters had only grown muddier now had already set her brain into paranoia.
"You are both insane."
"No, we are both Slytherins. We pride ourselves on being the lowest creatures on earth so we take it personally when someone takes it upon themselves to do worse." Blaise paused, giving his head a small flick and tossing the fallen strands back from his sights before he shrugged his indifference to her, "It was him or me tonight, Granger. You lucked out easy." Blaise leaned a hair closer to her, the smallest amount of space, but his softened words shuddered against Hermione's spine all the while, "..because you couldn't have stopped me."Great, all Hermione needed was more overbearing men in her life. Not. She had Harry and Ron, well, at one point, on her right side and now she had Blaise and Draco pretty much threatening to stay on her left. She was starting to feel like the pack of wild horses was ripping her limb from limb.
"Screw this." Hermione turned her back from the both of them as she tossed her nose in the air with her arrogance, and much annoyance, about the situation but it paid little for her as she stumbled her feet quickly over the fallen end table missing a good three legs, kicking it a bit while her arms flailed out to catch her balance. "What the bloody hell…"
"Yes, I meant to tell you that you should fire your new decorator earlier when I was here but you were right, she is distracting."
"Yeah well…" Draco gave a snort, running his own digits through his short strands of hair as he too dragged his sights a crossed the mess he'd created, and then abandoned, earlier. Yes, he was a bit embarrassed of it now but he offered Blaise that simple, callous remark as he watched Hermione's eyes glaze over the room.
Hermione gave a tiny jolt at the vision of his lamp resting on its side, illuminating the room with desperate shadows, sending them climbing up the walls to do a poor job hiding his destruction. She took it all in with a slow turn on her feet, shaking her head in disbelief at the complete overhaul he'd done. "You know…I think I should just go to bed…perhaps I'll wake up and this will all be a dream."
"I got something that can make you feel like that." Both Draco and Hermione alike scowled a snarling glare right through Blaise and he motioned his hands up defensively with a small laugh beneath his breath before he moved to draw his wand from the inner depths of his jacket pockets. It was a small flick of precision from his wrist that sent a small blue haze to subtly around Draco's large couch, giving it a twist and setting it back upright. It wasn't where it had originally been but at least it was no longer slung on its down casted front.
"You're impossible, Granger. I am not apologizing for this." Draco shook his head at her as she mumbled a thanks to Blaise for his attempt while he repocketed his wand, rolling her eyes at Draco's dramatic exit off into his kitchen while she carefully made her way to his couch. Hermione found herself constantly shaking her head as she bent to shove the fallen leather cushions back into their proper spaces, nearly jumping when Draco stomped back to sling a blanket a crossed the back of the couch only to whirl around and disappear once again.
"Yeah, I'm impossible…" The words muttered beneath her breath but she heard Blaise chuckle lowly as he finally moved from his stance of watching her fix the couch and sauntered off to his friend who was already making some rather obnoxious clanking noises in the other room.
Hermione slumped to sit down with a heavy sigh, lifting her hands to cover her face as she fell back onto the couch, raising her legs up to curl into herself as she attempted to shut out the world. For awhile she simply just laid there, closing her eyes tight, refusing to use the blanket Draco had brought her but the sound of he and Blaise talking in the other room was proving hard to ignore. She'd attempted to cover her head with the pillows to block it out a hundred times as she tossed and turned before she finally gave up and chucked the soft, square pillow directly at the open frame into Draco's kitchen. With a stomp of her hands, Hermione sat up and glared a wild look to the silence that was finally greeting her back.
Slowly, she heard someone move in the other room, a hand flashing to pick up the pillow on the way to the door. It was Blaise's musing expressions that popped from the other side with the object loose in his clutch, a small smile sliding onto his lips as he approached her restless image.
"If you wanted to talk, you could have just said so, Granger." Blaise politely handed the pillow back to her, resting his hands against the slender bend of his hips as she hugged it in against her body.
"I do not want to talk, Zabini…I want to go to bed…and you two won't shut it." Blaise lifted both dark brows upwards before he moved to lift a slender vile from his pocket, wavering it in front of her before laying it down to rest in the canopy the blanket now created over her knees. Hermione briefly looked at it before raising her head to him once again but he was already retreating, waving his hand dismissively over his shoulder on his way back to Malfoy.
"Sweet dreams, Granger."
"She alright?" Draco asked Blaise easily, his vice barely above a whisper when he'd reammerged looking the same as he always did: complete lack of any true emotion.
"What? Yeah, just…moody." Blaise shrugged at the thoughts passing to try and explain Granger, reaching out to his friend with a snap of his fingers. "Pass." Draco moved his fingers up to the joint pressed between his lips, sharply inhaling to watch the paper burn brightly upwards, drawing in the smoke once more before he plucked it free, handing it forward to be gladly taken off his hands by Blaise to quickly repeat a very similar motion. The smoke had barely finished exhaling from his mouth, still slipping from between his teeth as Blaise choked out, "gave her a potion, she'll be out like a light in a minute."
"That sounds so fucking creepy, Zabini."
"I know. Perhaps I shouldn't leave you two alone tonight." Blaise mused over the thought, taking another drag or two while Draco rubbed the strain forming behind his eyes.
"I just beat the living fuck out of her boyfriend, ex, whatever…I am thirty steps back from where I was, mate. Not going a step near her." Blaise laughed a bit at Draco's admittance to fucking up a bit, handing him back his joint.
"You're bloody hopeless! This is fantastic."
"Sod off, Zabini." Draco snatched the thing rather quickly, placing it loose between his lips as Blaise chided on.
"Oh no, you certainly are. I've been watching this for a few days now…it is truly fantastic because you always say yes to her and that is why you are hopeless."
"I do not."
Blaise lifted a finger in counter, "You do too. Example: Yes, you can spend the night in the bed no one else has ever been in and sure, I'll just sleep on this side of the bed while you work out all your problems…forever…." Draco shooed Blaise off, sucking in the heavy smoke and patting his chest in an attempt not to cough but Blaise only lifted another finger and continued making examples. "Yes, I'll throw all my plans out the window and take you out on the town for like a bleeding week, no problem."
"Shut up, Blaise, seriously."
"You act like you're dating her…you take her out, great, you make plans for drinks, super, you spend the night together…dating. But you are not dating so to speak now are you? See? Hopeless." Draco wanted to use his already sore fist once again but he found better use moving to snuff the joint out against the basin of his sink, tossing it in a small glass ashtray beside it. "Missing that one sophisticated little thing, aren't you? Just haven't figured out the right thing to say because you don't want to mess up that terrific friendship you guys have."
"Seriously Blaise, fuck off…you have no idea and I am ten seconds away from reminding you that you have been in love with a woman for the last seven years that you have never had the guts to explain those very things to."
"Well yes, but you're Draco Malfoy. You're supposed to be better than everyone, including myself, if you've forgotten."
Draco swallowed hard, shaking his head as he admitted to him, "I can hear her, I can smell her, I can see her…I just can't touch or taste her. Three out of five really isn't that bad." Blaise's lip curled at the math Malfoy had just attempted to justify, scoffing his chuckle as he swept his bangs from his eyes.
"That's like a D. It's not even a passing grade, Malfoy. You're getting a D in your relationship with Granger…your godfather is rolling in his grave as we speak because you just said that, you know…"
It took a lot of thought but Hermione had eventually been annoyed enough that she willfully plunged the cork of the vile off and downed the contents in one gulp. The second the thick liquid slugged down her throat, Hermione felt the throbbing pulse in her brain begin to ease. With the blanket Draco had given her slung over her bottom half, Hermione folded back to the couch, leaving the empty vile on the floor beside her as her lids drifted closed. She could still hear every word that the two men were definitely not whispering but they fell a bit muted on her washing senses. Hermione heard Blaise chiding Draco but it was the last conscious thing she could recall because moments later, she'd fallen deep into a heavy slumber just as Blaise had promised.
By the time she awoke, in a complete startled daze, she had completely no idea what time of the night it could possibly be. The room was pitch black in the night hours, making it hard to make anything out when Hermione shifted against the cushions. It took a moment but she finally remembered just where it was that she was but she quickly, also, became aware of Draco slack on the chair that he must have propped up beside the couch. Both of his legs were stretched out in front of him, crossing his ankles down to his bare feet and he had propped his head up against his fist but he was not awake in the slightest. Draco's elbow pressed into the arm of the chair as his other draped along the opposite, completely unaware of her watchful gaze as his chest rose and fell with his slow, deliberate breaths.
Draco looked anything but comfortable with the way he was hunching in the overstuffed chair, however, even as peaceful as his mind seemed, and she couldn't image why he'd felt the need to stay there when he had a perfectly good bed in the other room. After all, she knew that first hand. The couch let out a soft creak when she shifted to move her hand up against his forearm, feeling him twitch awake with a wide hued glance around the room.
"What are you doing?" Hermione whispered to him in the darkness but Draco was still blinking the sleep out of his eyes, clearing his throat a bit as he planted his feet firmly on the ground.
"What? Nothing…sleeping. Like you should be. Go back to sleep, freckles." His lids began to slide closed once again, feeling his cheek press harder into the hold of his fist but Hermione patted his arm still.
"You look uncomfortable…don't you want to lay down?"
Draco shook his head at her, "I said I'm alright, freckles."
"Draco…would you just come lay down?"
He wanted to say something to her, something about anything really, but all Draco managed was a small slap of his hands to his thighs as they fell from his lifted shrug, unsure how to answer the underlining question on her face even in the dark shadows surrounding them. "Experience with you tells me that it will be less frustrating for me to stay right here."
There was a bit of exhaustion tracing heavily through Draco's clouded eyes as they darted around to nothing in particular, finding it hard to look at her so only resorting to folding his head down into his waiting palm once again as they lifted from his lap.
He hadn't heard her move towards him nor had he heard her lift from the couch and step around before his down casted gaze until she moved to slip her own hand beneath his own, feeling the heated flesh of his cheek while she drew closer. Draco's already alerted muscles twitched at the first instance of her touch, his body straightening a bit as she angled her face up to him while she bent at the waist but she said nothing. She just stared up at him, watching him with those sad, deep hues before her lashes flickered downwards, closing her lids while she ran the pad of her thumb along the apple of his cheek. Unlike last night when she had chosen to bring herself in such a close proximity with him, he sat still willing himself for the power to remain for he was fully sober with a single woman with nothing to hide behind.
"You said we should talk." Her lips brushed his chin with the softness in her voice, Draco finding his own hand betraying him as it moved to slip along the curve of her jaw, lacing his fingers loosely in the deep curls resting at the base of her neck.
"Yes, we should talk, freckles…" Her was finding it hard to watch her the way her breath was parting her lips like that, threatening to touch him.
"Ok..."
"Ok."
Hermione had nodded softly, a soft smile beckoning at the tip of her lips as he nodded back to her with his slack lids watching every shadow dance along her in the darkness. She'd nearly let out an involuntary noise when she felt his fingers tighten in her hair, angling her head up in the slightest. Hermione's lips parted just enough in her silent sigh to lean into him just as Draco leaned forward from his chair, abandoning the words he couldn't manage by capturing her lips in his own.
Well, after all this angst, I thought it was about time to have Draco take what he wanted. Hope you like. Enjoy! :)
