Oh, look another one in like 5 minutes. I think they are a bit OOC, but this is actually alot better written than I remember it to have been. So, yeah.
Disclaimer: I do not own this amazing world.
The rest of the first week back passes uneventful. Draco doesn't show Hermione anything else. They only talk in their class and don't see each other at the library at all. On Saturday however, Elizabeth comes to Hermione again.
"Hermione! I have a note from your boyfriend." She spins around rapidly, the little girl with a cheeky grin on her face. "Just kidding. It's from the boy that I saw you with on the first day." She tells Hermione handing her a nicely folded note. It's from Draco.
Hermione, I'm sorry about what happened. I want to talk.
Meet me by the Room of Requirement at 9. Please? I just want to talk. You're right about how
talking about it makes it better. Please come.
Draco Malfoy.
"What does he say?" Elizabeth looks up at her with shinning eyes.
"He wants help with his homework is all." Hermione tells her, and she looks crestfallen.
"I thought he had given you a love note. He likes you." She tells me matter-of-factly.
"And how do you know that?" She feels her face flushing a bit.
"The way he looks at you."
"And how would you know?"
" I watch him at meals. He always looks at you. He sits so he can see you without it seeming obvious that he's looking at you."
"Are you sure your 11?" Hermione teases. "You're like Ginny." Looking at her watch, Hermione notices it's about 8:30 and just so she's on time she says good-bye to Elizabeth and heads on her way to the room.
"Granger, you're early." She looks around for the voice of Draco. He's sitting in an alcove, bathed in orange light.
"Well, I thought I may as well come early as late." She replies, walking over to him. A door is in the wall next to him, the door to the Room of Requirement.
"I made it so only we can get in and we won't get interrupted this way. Come on Granger." He leads her in, and its like a common room in there. Couple chairs, a table, fireplace. The fireplace heats the entire room.
"Have a seat." He tells her and she sits down, across from him.
"Why did you want to talk? I mean before you just w-"
"I had just seen myself almost die. Of course I didn't want to talk." He tells her.
"Sorry." Hermione tells him, looking down at her hands.
"I wanted to talk. So, I want to know what happened between you and Ron. I mean.."
"Well, I had talked back and forth with Krum, you know the Durmstang champion, and well he got jealous. I guess it was partly my fault too. I was too caught up in my crush on Fred.." She blushes, knowing he's staring at her.
"That's why his death affected you so much." He concludes.
"Yeah. But basically we just fell apart. You know.. kinda fault on both parts." She admits. "As much my fault as his."
"And Fred?" She blushes even more. "Why did you like him?" He questions her. She looks up at him.
"Well, he was always a prankster and gave us a laugh when we needed it. He was quite hot if I do admit it. And he was a whole dang lot taller than me and I find that attractive. He just had that amazing personality that girls look for. He was always there for us, and helped us. Even if he only got 3 O. ." She giggles. "But when he died. Damn Death Eaters. When he died, and after everything was finished, I just broke down.I couldn't handle it anymore. He was gone. I'd never get to tell him how much he meant to me, and I would never get to know if he felt the same way about me." She looks up at Draco, expecting endless ridicule.
"That's how I felt about you." He whispers. "As soon as my father had me get this bloody thing." He points to his lower arm." I thought I would never get to even see you again. Or talk to you, or tell you how I feel. Or," He pauses, looking into her eyes. "or find out if you feel the same." She feels a tightening in her chest like when you're about to cry.
"You said you were jealous of us." She prompts, looking away from those intense gray eyes. He sighs slightly.
"You and Potter and Weasley. You because you beat me in everything, even though I was second. But for a Malfoy, second isn't good enough. When Father found out you had beat me in exams and in assignments, he took that bloody cane of his and-"He stops. "and he b-beat me with it." His breath is shaky now. Hermione starts to say something,but he stops her. "And every time after that if I so much as mentioned you, he would hit me. As I got older, he started using different spells on me. He acted as if he hated me. I tried and tried to be better than you. Like with that hippogriff in 3rd year. I thought I could do anything just because I needed to. But I've learned that sometimes you need to do the right thing, or do it the right way. "
"Draco, I-I never knew." She says quietly.
"No one did." He takes a deep shaky breath. "I was jealous of Potter because even though his parents are dead, they loved him enough to die for him. He has everything, all the teachers liked him. Everyone was all 'oh Potter is the best just cause he's got a scar on his head' and I didn't understand it all. He just hates me. I kinda understand why and all, but I still went at him which probably made it worse for me at home. Father didn't use many Muggle ways of punishment, but one that he was fond of was a belt."
"But that's from like a long time ago." Hermione exclaims.
"Father isn't that worried about up to date Muggle punishments. But he would also take his anger out on me, like when Potter told everyone that Voldemort was back. When I needed to get this, and I refused. All those times I didn't want to listen to him. That's where those," he points to his back,"came from." Hermione tries to say something again. "No, if I don't say it all now I don't know when I will be able to. And finally Weasley and his family of red-heads. He always had a sibling to confide in. To tell about whats happening at school, or in his life. I'm an only child. I didn't and don't have anyone. He may be as poor as dirt, but he has a loving family and everyone cares about the others. Even his house must be, to say the least, interesting,but its got to be better than Malfoy Manor. He's so much luckily than I am, even with my fancy clothes and new things, he has what I will never have. A family."
"I-I'm sorry." Hermione says after a moment, watching Draco cry. She stands up and walks over to the chair he's sitting in and sinks down beside him, wrapping her arms around his somewhat slim torso. She leans into him. She hears his quiet sobs, remembering all the times of what has happened to him. "Should I talk now?" He nods, his body shaking.
"Crucio, at Malfoy Manor. The worst pain I've ever felt. She carved words into my skin and she tortured me. She has no feelings, Draco. None at all. Other wise you couldn't do something of that sort to anyone. All she wants is to be powerful like Voldemort did." She takes a breath. "I can't even explain it. When we were hunting Hocruxes to kill Voldemort, we all got in a fight and Ron left us. He was my only piece of Fred left and it hurt me. But we kept going on, and I didn't cry in front of Harry, just after he had gone to sleep or if he was away trying to find food. But that's when I learned how to control my breathing and stop the tears. Harry never knew how much I cried." She uses that technique now, to stay strong because Draco needs her to be.
"Hermione."She lifts her head. "I'm sorry." He looks down at her, tears slipping down his cheeks. She reaches her hands up and wipes them away gently.
"I'm sorry also." Hermione tells him, keeping her hands resting on his face, looking into his eyes.
"Do you still have a crush on Fred?" he asks suddenly after a couple of moments of them in that position. She drops her hands, feeling her face blushing.
"It's weird, because he's dead and all, and its hard to have a crush on a dead person. I don't know if I ever loved him. If I knew that I did, I don't know what I would do. I think it would be worse on me. Almost how it is for George. Like he lost his best friend. I don't know anymore." She says, standing up.
"Its fine. I-I don't care if you do." He tells her unconvincingly.
"Draco..I don't want to talk about him." She glances down at his tear-stained face.
"If you ever want to-"He leaves the invitation open.
"What happens if you touch the Mark?" Hermione asks, sitting on the chair across from him.
"Most of the time nothing, but one time it burned. Like when I got it." He tells her, standing up.
"I'm really sorry Draco. About everything." Hermione says. "But I-I have to go. Work on homework." She hurries out of the room, leaving Draco there alone.
"I scared her away." he's beginning to talk to himself again. It hasn't happened for a while but its starting again. "I always will. Why can't you get that through your head!" He shouts to himself. "Realize it! She doesn't and never will feel the same way!" He sinks into the chair she was sitting in. "Hermione. I-I think I love you."