Disclaimer: I do not owe any characters in this story.
A/N: I am sorry if my stories are very short. Maybe you can give me ideas on how to lengthen my stories. Hehe. I have the time now so I might as well update it now eh? Since I might not update for quite some time.
Chapter 6, coming up!
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Both of them were very silent on their way back to their respective common rooms. Malfoy could hardly think of any topic to say.
"Erm, Malfoy? Don't you think it is so weird now?"
"Eh? What do you mean by that?"
"I mean after that night, everything is like so awkward between the both of us. Don't you think so?"
"I guess so. I think it is better that we are back at our usual state. As in, you can continue the pretence of spiting me so that no one will suspect anything, and i can continue to insult you and stuffs."
"Right." Hermione answered in a soft voice.
"So I guess we can't go to Hogsmeade together?" Malfoy asked. He felt a sudden pang of sadness which he could not explain.
"I guess not. Maybe we can go when we are more certain of this relationship." Hermione answered sadly.
"Oh alright. We will have to part here. Goodnight." Hermione told Malfoy upon reaching the main staircase. As she turned to go, Malfoy ran up to her and gave her a night kiss. She smiled at him before going off.
"Why did I do that for? I could have just mind my own business, and walked off. But I choose to kiss her goodnight first. I am so dumb!" Malfoy scolded himself.
The Slytherin's common room was empty, or so Draco thought. As he walked past one of the armchair, he heard a groan followed by some shuffling. He stopped and turned round. He saw Pansy nodding off to sleep, and saw drool forming near her mouth. He looked away in disgust and was about to walk away before she grabbed his hand.
"What the…" Draco turned around to face Pansy.
"Draco, you are back. I am so worried about you. Where did you go? I am sorry for venting my anger on you. I am just so stressed over everything. I don't know why. Perhaps it is because of the fact that we are going to sit for a major exam, the NEWTS, next year. But after thinking for some time, I decided not to worry so much since I know you will stand by my side forever and ever, even if I did badly, right darling Draco?"
Malfoy look revolted as she placed her head on his shoulder and moved away immediately. Pansy noticed it and looked at him in what she thought a very pitiful look. Her eyes were already swimming with tears.
"Why are you moving away from me? I thought you love me! You always loved to put your head on my laps and let me stroke you. Why can't you do the same to me?Why can't you let me rest my head on you? We are a couple, we should be able to do things together!"
"Because I don't love you, and we are not a couple. Stop telling the whole world that!" Draco had blurted out before he could help himself. He did not think much since he never loved Pansy. It was his father's idea for him to get acquainted with another Pureblood.
"What? You don't love me anymore?" For a moment, her eyes were glassy. After a few seconds, her eyes saw red. "If you don't love me, who do you love? That little Mudblood, Hermione Granger? Or that little blood traitor, Ginny Weasley? It must be that Mudblood! I saw you looking at her so many times. I am so stupid! Zabini told me but I refused to listen to him! I thought you just want to have some fun with her and in the end; you will still come back to me! But in the end, you were too busy admiring her instead of me! How could you do this to me! I am so much better than that Mudblood Granger! I am prettier, smarter and sexier!" And with each word, she rose in height. "Draco Malfoy, do you love me or not?"
"No I don't, and would you stop making a nuisance of yourself here? It is no use waking the Slytherins at 1am! I never loved you and never would!" And Malfoy had made another blunder.
"So, you don't love me?" She stormed up to the girls' dormitory before yelling at Draco again. "I will make sure I am the one and only girl you love! I will do anything! I repeat, anything to get you back in my arms! Even if that is the last thing I, Pansy Parkinson, ever do!" And with that, she slammed the door, shaking all the portraits in the room, alarming its occupants.
Malfoy stood there, mortified for the first time in his life in Hogwarts; he had never felt that threatened by anyone. Except his father back at home, no one had dared threatened him in Hogwarts. And for the first time in his life, he felt worried for someone who is not even a pureblood or relatives; it is for a Mudblood, Hermione.
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The next day being a Friday, students were a bit more rowdy than usual. In the Great Hall, Pansy had not sat beside Draco, for the first time. All the Slytherins were curious but did not dared to ask neither the fuming mad Pansy nor the tired-looking Malfoy. Pansy kept throwing accusing glances at Draco as if expecting him to come and apologize to her personally. However, Draco just sat there, talking to the rest of the Quidditch team. Students from other houses noticed that and they did not bother to keep their volume down.
"Oh look, that pug faced girl is not sitting beside Malfoy. What could have…?"
"Could they have broken up?"
"I certainly hope they did."
"About time. I always thought Malfoy could get a better girl with his looks…"
"Does that mean I would stand a chance? I have a crush on him for pretty long..."
"Nah. He has really high standards…"
"How come he chose Pansy to be his…?"
"No one knows. Colin Creevey reckons that Pansy must have slipped love potion to Malfoy."
"Can't be. Pansy is not very smart. My guess is Malfoy's father force Malfoy to go out with Pansy."
"I don't wonder. She is such an ass just like him…"
"Well, this means that we girls will have a chance! Look at him, he is so cute!"
"Not any chance, girls. There is still Hermione!"
"Oh yeah!" The girls looked crestfallen. "Well, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try right?"
Draco looked surprised and couldn't feel more amused when girls from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw approached him. Of course, try as they might, flicking their hair only to fall down, and winking at Malfoy when he is not looking, only to wink at the wrong people, Crabbe and Goyle who had no idea what was going on; Malfoy was not paying attention.
His attention was all concentrated on one girl, who had not bothered to come and 'amuse' him. Hermione was chatting animatedly with Harry and Ron.
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(At the Gryffindor's table)
"How come there is a crowd at the Slytherin's table?" Ron asked.
"From what I heard from Colin, it seems like that little ferret has broken up with that absolute cow of Pansy! And the girls are all crowding round him, wanting to be the next Mrs Malfoy!" Harry answered.
"How come you are not over there?" Ron demanded.
"Do you want me to go over?" Hermione sighed and made a move to get up and start towards the Slytherin's table. Ron stopped her and pulled her back.
"No…" There was an awkward silence before Harry started. "All the girls think that Malfoy is some kind of superstar, like he is so cute." He makes a disgusted face that made Ron gaffawed, getting a hard stare from Lavender.
"Are you jealous or what?" Hermione poked fun.
"No I am not! I am just…"
What Harry is just, no one knows, as they were interrupted by a tawny owl, landing right in front of Hermione.
Hermione tore off the little note and opened it. When Ron had tried to peep, he got a pinch from Hermione.
"What the devil did you do that for?"
"Serves you right for trying to peep!" She looked at Ron. "Oh, I am sorry. This is sort of private. You know, it means you are not supposed to be reading my note."
She crushed the little note. In it, it was written, "You have to be careful at Hogsmeade. From DM."
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Hermione could not make head or tail of the little warning. She decided to ignore it since it is from Malfoy, and he had been to busy to tell her anything. I mean, if he is sincere about that warning, he will come and inform me straight personally. Indeed, he was too busy warding off the stalkers that he had problems navigating through the castle. Wherever he goes, there will be hordes of girls following him. What was more irritating was Pansy, sniffing loudly at any lessons, making the teachers so frustrated that…
"That is five points of Slytherin. If you disrupt the class anymore, Miss Parkinson, I am afraid I would have to ask you to leave." Professor McGonagall burst, rolling her eyes, after 5 minutes of continuous sniffing from Pansy.
Pansy gave an extremely loud sniff but did not continue anymore.
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The moment that Malfoy had been dreading yet welcoming had arrived; it was time to go off to Hogsmeade. He had been welcoming it because it would mean that he can escape from his younger stalkers and probably get lost in the crowd. He was also dreading it because he was afraid Pansy would harm Hermione, and he knew that Pansy had no misgivings to get rid of Hermione. Pansy was also brought up by her father to be merciless, just like any other purebloods.
At the gate where Filch started jabbing Secrecy Sensors into everyone, Malfoy tried to get to the front where Hermione was with Harry and Ron, but the large crowd prevented him from doing so. He was wedged between two large girls who had started bombarding him with personal questions.
He managed to scoot off before any of the girls found him. He tried to search for Hermione but to no avail. There were a lot of Hogwarts students that day. When Pansy brushed past him, she was gripping her wand very tightly and she had a murderous look on. His heart tightened and began to look for Hermione. He just hoped that he could find Hermione before Pansy does and when she does, she is not going to forgive Hermione for what she did.
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After what seems to be hours to Draco, he longed to sit down and have a Butterbeer, but he could not rest until he found Hermione. He found it very hard to move forward since there were hordes of people. He also noticed that there were a lot of people at Hogsmeade and most of them are girls. He had several encounters with the girls who had tried to chat with him, only to receive a growl and a threat from him. He was about to walk in front before he was stopped by a couple of girls. They carried him to Three Broomsticks and sat him down hard on the chair.
Suddenly, someone screamed, followed by a few familiar shouts. Everyone in the Three Broomsticks could hear the commotion as two voices floated into the air.
"You filthy little Mudblood! You stole Draco, away from me! You knew it all along that he belongs to me!" Pansy screamed.
"No, I didn't. Even if I did, leave the others alone. They are not involved in this. You are a coward, attacking people from behind their back! She did nothing to offend you!" Hermione shouted, pointing to the girl on the floor.
Harry and Ron rushed to help the girl who has been blasted out of the way by Pansy and moved her to a safer place.
"So you are trying to act noble now, eh? Doyou think that will help you in your survival now?" Pansy smirked after turning a slight red in the face.
Malfoy struggled and after a long time, broke free from his captors. He shoved people out of the way, and pushed, rushing against time, hoping that he was not too late.
"I did not steal your boyfriend!"
"No, you didn't! You seduced him! You couldn't steal him so your decide to seduce him instead! Why? Course I am much prettier than you, smarter and sexier! You are jealous of me! Draco and I are meant to be together even before we were born! You just hate me because I get the best of everything!" Pansy screamed.
"Oh yeah? Why don't you look in the mirror? Here, I have one." Hermione thrust a hand-held mirror to Pansy. Hermione was also trying very hard to control her feelings. How dare she injured others and push the blame to her. Hermione had enough of Pansy for the last five years.
"Look at you! It is no wonder Draco dumped you! You are fat and ugly! You think you are very pretty but you are not! You are a desperate, mean, hopeless…"
Hermione had touched a raw nerve; Pansy looked as if she was about to explode.
"Never in my life am I insulted by a Mudblood! I will not permit that! My parents will never permit that!" She gave a shriek and made a slashing movement with her wand, the streak of purple flame zooming towards Hermione.
"Nooo……" Malfoy shouted, dashed forward and shielded Hermione from the purple flame. He collapsed with his eyes wide opened, as Hermione sat beside him, tears trickling down her face.
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A/N: The slashing movement thing, I took it from pg 698 of the Order of Phoenix. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did!