Disclaimer: The wonderful world of Harry Potter belongs completely to the genius that is J.K Rowling.
Chapter 3
The next morning Hermione woke with a start. The nightmares had come last night, as they had every night for almost a year.
She got up and moved groggily across the room to the mirror. She stared at her reflection. A brown eyed girl with hair that currently resembled a scraggly birds nest stared back at her.
She grabbed the brush and began to furiously attack the tangle until she got it under control. She then dressed herself meticulously in her uniform and threw her robes on over it.
She looked back at the mirror. Although she was now perfectly turned out, her blotchy cheeks and red eyes with dark bags under them were a clear sign of the tears that had been shed last night.
She performed several concealing spells to hide the evidence and decided that she was finally ready to face breakfast.
Parvati had already left, for which she was grateful, and it was far too early for any other Gryffindors to be Great Hall was empty when she arrived so she quickly wolfed down her breakfast so as to avoid meeting any other students.
Instead of returning to Gryffindor tower after breakfast she decided to take a walk in the dawn twilight.
She walked down to the edge of the lake sank down on its shore.
There were no tears in her eyes now but the emptiness inside her was almost worse. She was like an inferus.
She took out the knife she carried in her pocket, a left-over from the search for Horcruxes last blade glinted in the light of the rising sun and seemed to have turned red.
Suddenly all the confusion in her head solidified into a clear, icy thought. There was one way she could escape it all. For months she had been living with the despair inside her, the belief that nothing would ever be okay again.
She did not need to live with it anymore. She did not to live anymore.
Just as she came to this realisation she heard a familiar male voice.
She sighed. Of course she couldn't do it, whether she wanted to or not. To many people were depending on her.
She looked down at the knife again, drew back her hand and threw it as hard as she could into the lake. It was visible for a moment before sinking below the surface into the blackness below.
The tears came then, thick and fast. It was her Gryffindor spirit that had stopped her from doing it but in that moment she wished she was able to be totally selfish and abandon everything and everyone who needed her.
FF~FF~FF~FF~FF~FF
Draco had risen early that morning, intending to make the Great hall before the crowds descended.
As he got to the entrance hall he saw a mane of curly hair disappear out the door. He wanted to follow her but decided against it. She would not thank him for intruding when she clearly wanted to be alone.
He sat in the silence of the great Hall, brooding over his plan to get forgiveness. Now that Hermione had rejected his apology he did not know what to do. He knew he would have to earn it somehow, but how?
He had no experience with this. How did one go about gaining forgiveness from someone who had hated you, with good reason, for all the time you had known her? He didn't even know where to begin.
He glanced up as he heard quick footsteps enter the hall. The other Gryffindor girl, Parvati, stood there.
He froze. Her reputation for taking her grief and anger out on everyone had spread all over Hogwarts and he had enough personal experience with her wrath to want to avoid it.
Soon after returning to Hogwarts she had cornered him in the corridor. She had seemed insane, screaming obscenities at him. She had blamed him for the deaths, for Lavender. She called him a Death Eater and worse. It was only the timely intervention of Professor McGonagall that had prevented her from physically attacking him. And he knew he deserved everything she threw at him.
But this morning she didn't seem to notice him and as she sat down at the Gryffindor table he quietly left the hall.
He decided that a walk down by the greenhouses would help to clear his head. The cold air stung his eyes and he wrapped the scarf more firmly around his neck. Looking down at the lake he saw a figure hunched over the water. He knew it had to be Hermione and he altered his course so that he was moving in her direction.
As he neared he cleared his throat and said "Granger"
She immediately sat bolt upright and just before he came level with her he thought he saw something flash in the sunlight before disappearing into the lake. He brushed it off as a trick of the light.
She was glaring accusingly up at him and he stopped moving towards her. He saw the tears in her eyes but pretended that he didn't.
"What is it Malfoy"? She demanded.
Just saying hello Granger, I'll leave you be now".
She had a confused expression on her face as he turned and made his way back up to the school.
Authors Note: Thanks so much to the people who Reviewed, Followed and Favorited this:) It really helps to know people are reading it! So how did you like this chapter? Am I moving to slow? Have you anything you like or don't like about the story? Feedback is amazing:)
ShHpBookworm xxx
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