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"Ginny's getting suspicious." I tell Malfoy.
It's 9 pm and we're in the Room of Requirement again— it looks the same as it did last night and we're both relaxed and reclining in our armchairs in front of the fire.
"Oh really? Lucky for me no one cares what I do."
"Lucky you indeed. She practically interrogated me about my whereabouts last night and I had to lie and say I was wondering the castle because I wanted to be alone. Tonight I made sure to do my home-work early and I told her that I was going for a walk again and that I would be back before curfew. I told her I needed this time to myself because I spend all day with people and I just need to be alone to think sometimes."
"You little liar." He says cheekily.
"I know." I say and bury my face in my hands.
"I don't even know if she bought it either. I wish I could tell her what I'm really doing but I don' t think she would take it well."
"Which part exactly? That you're sharing your feelings with me or the fact that things have been so hard for you." He asks.
"Both actually. I don't want to tell her about my problems because I don't want to worry her, you see. I'm sure she has her own troubles, with losing her brother on top of it all. I think everyone involved in the war has their demons. Some are just better at dealing with them or they don't feel it to the extent that we do or those who were closet to the action do. Anyway—if I tell her you can be sure she would want to tell Harry and Ron and I'm not having that. I don't want them worrying about me either, especially Harry. He'll think it's his fault because that's just how he is. As for me talking to and hanging out with you—all three of them will lose their minds."
"Quite a predicament you've gone and landed yourself in. What will you do about her?"
" I don't know,just wing it I guess. We'll have to switch up our meting times or meet less often. Whenever she questions me I'll just make up some random excuse or keep going with the 'I just want to be alone sometimes' one. She'll tire of it eventually and assume I'm doing whatever I am for a good reason. I know her, she's not the nosy type."
"So we just have to wait it out then."
"Yes. Don't take this the wrong way—not trying to sound like a stalker but I'm not giving up sending time with you. I feel really good when we're together and I'm afraid that if we stop meeting things will go back to the way the were before. We don't wan that do we?"
"Definitely not." He replies.
"You know,if you weren't such a git before, we could have been really good friends." I tell him.
"You really think so?"
"Of course. We get along great and I'm sure they more time we spend with each other the better our relationship will be."
"That's now but what about back then when things we're different?" He asks.
"I suppose it might have been hard. The whole Gryffindor/Slytherin/Mudblood/Pureblood thing was definitely not in our favor. Well we're friends now and that's all that matters." I answer with a sigh.
"You're right."
"Malfoy?" I say a bit nervously.
"Yes?" He answers looking curious.
"Look, I don't want to upset you or anything by asking this but I just want to know. Does my being muggle-born still bother you? I mean things are so different between us now and guess I'm wondering..." I trail off, not really knowing what else to say.
He's too quit and I'm beginning to wish I had never said anything when he takes one of my hands in his and answers me.
"Granger, do you really think I would be with you here now—talking with you, touching you if I still felt the same way about blood purity? For Merlin's sake—I haven't felt that way about muggle-borns in more than a year. Voldemort and all his crazy put a stop to it. I saw how wrong he was first hand. Th things he would say and do to muggle- borns and muggles... I can't even think about it without feeling sick. I though about how wrong he was—how wrong I was for thinking that being a pureblood made me better when in actuality it didn't. I mean as a pureblood, look at what the death eaters were doing. How could the be better than anybody if the were so evil? You had lot to do with it too. Ever since I've known you, you've been brilliant at everything—you've been strong,loyal and kind and I thought if a 'mudlood' could be so amazing then how could anything be wrong with them? How could they be 'lower' than purebloods when you were better than all of us? So no, Granger—blood purity means nothing to me anymore. "
"That's great. At least one decent thing cam out of all this tragedy then. Again, I'm sorry for asking you such a silly question when the answer was obvious."
"It's fine. You had every right to wonder considering everything I put you through back then. You have no idea how much I regret it all."
"I do actually and no worries—it doesn't matter anymore."
"That means a lot."
I squeezed his hand—the one still holding mine—in acknowledgement.
"Well, Granger. I think it's my turn to ask an 'inappropriate' question. He said with a wicked look on his face.
Not good.
"You should see the look on your face, Granger. Don't worry it's not that bad." He said mockingly.
"Oh fine. Just spit it out then." I snapped at him.
"What's going with you and Weasley?" He asked bluntly.
My mouth dropped open in shock at his question. Why on earth did he care about me and Ron?
"Seriously? You want to know about that?" I asked him—surprise coloring my tone.
"Yes. Why so surprised?" He replied, raising one eyebrow.
"I guess I never took you for the gossiping teenage girl type." I teased in reply.
"Hardly. I'm just curious that's all." He scoffed.
"Fine, I'll tell you. We were together for a little while and now we're not. I simply said.
"That's it?" He sounded skeptical.
"Yes. What were you expecting? I answered, quite bemused.
"Well something more substantial than that at any rate."
"Why?" What could he mean?
"For starters, I think the whole school heard about your big kiss during the battle—you even mentioned it yesterday and even though I was basically a zombie for most of 6th year I would have had to be blind not to notice all the drama going on between you two. I remember crashing Slughorn's Christmas party and seeing you there with that idiot McLaggen and even I could see that you had no interest in him and he was only a way to make Weasley jealous." He finished with a chuckle.
"Well that's mortifying. I had no idea things had been so obvious that even you noticed." I huffed.
"Well now you do. So that's really it? You two are over already?"
"Yes. Why is it so hard to believe. You sound like the entire Weasley family plus Harry—everyone who knows actually. It's annoying you know."
"Why is that?"
"Because everyone seems to think they know Ron and I or our relationship better than we do that's why. I mean yes we had feelings for each other for a while before we acted on them and I guess everyone likes the whole best friends falling in love angle but it just wasn't meant to be you know? Did I at one point think that we were going to have a long, serious relationship? Absolutely. I had really strong feelings for him and he for me. That was all before we got together though. To be honest the only highlight of our short lived relationship was the kiss at the battle. We started out on a high and ended flat. I mean, there was no novelty—we were friends for years so there was nothing new. Even the physical aspect of it wasn't great—truth b told after the first kiss all the rest were awkward as hell. It felt wrong somehow. Like kissing my brother I suppose. I knew he felt it too but we persevered for a while because we waited so long to be together and it was only fair to give it a shot. We couldn't pretend that it wasn't working for long though so we talked it over and decided we were better off as friends. Ron's mother was really upset—I think she thought we would get married or something. I don't thinks he's given up hope either but she should. It's over fro good." I finished emphatically.
"You sound so sure. I mean don't you think that you ended it too soon or that you will give it another chance in the future?"
I shook my head.
"Obviously I'm not an oracle," He laughed at this. But I'm pretty sure. Ron and I had no Chemistry as a couple. Not an ounce—no fireworks or spark or anything. Anyway—they are something that when you know it you know and I know that Ron and I are never going to happen. I can't see it. I can't feel it."
"I see. You are a girl what knows what she wants and what she doesn't want."
"Definitely." I answer confidently.
"One more question." He said and his expression was even more wicked than before.
"What is it?" I ask suspiciously.
"Did you and the Weasel shag?" He asked in an innocent voice.
"Malfoy, you prat! Of course not." I shouted at him in indignation. I took my hand out of his and hit him across the head for good measure too.
He laughed so hard that tears were streaming down his face. Git.
"I'm sorry, I just had to get that one in there." He said while still laughing.
I glared at him until he took my hand again and apologized again. I accepted it while laughing a bit myself. It was funny I had to admit.
We continued the evening with pleasanter topics after that and then it was time to part ways as usual.
The weeks flew by and just like that Christmas was around the corner.
Malfoy—or Draco as I now called him—and I spent most of our spare time together now. Still in secret of course ( It seemed the right thing to do and truthfully there was a thrill in sneaking around) and Ginny had long since stopped asking questions. Likewise for anyone else who noticed my conspicuous absences. We hung out in the room of requirement, abandoned classrooms,the astronomy tower, by the lake, in dark corners of the library and any number of places where we were sure not to be discovered.
We did our home-work together, talked about any and everything, comforted each other when required and just had an all round great time together. We even met up during Hosmeade and went to the shrieking shack sometimes. It was wonderful.
I felt guilty sometimes—about neglecting my friends in favor of spending time with Malfoy but they didn't seem to mind my not being around much. They weren't Harry and Ron after all so thy had other friends to hand out with. Not to say that I didn't spend any time with them—just not as much as I did with Draco.
All in all things we're much better for the both of us since we first spoke during that first Saturday of term. We both slept beautifully and nightmares were few and far between.
As the Christmas approached I was becoming increasingly worried though. We would both be going home for the holidays and I did not know how I would fare without out him. I realized long ago that I couldn't do without his company for too long.
Time would tell.
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