Chapter Fifteen
Hermione collapsed back onto the sofa and stared at her best friend. ''What?''
''Zabini is out for revenge,'' Ginny repeated herself, ''because you have made him look like a complete idiot. You didn't honestly think he'd take it lying down, did you?''
''I…I don't know what I thought,'' Hermione mumbled into her hands.
''Well, as far as I can see, it has put you in a very tricky position, to say the least. Honestly Hermione, you're meant to be the smartest witch of your generation, what the hell possessed you to go along with him?'' Ginny jerked her thumb at Draco.
''Hey! Lay off her!'' Draco sat on the sofa next to Hermione and put his arm around her shoulders. ''Don't worry, we're not going to fall victim to him.''
''It's easy enough for you to say that. But what are you actually going to do?'' Ginny stared coldly at Draco, her eyebrows raised.
''You seem to be forgetting that Blaise is starting off in a much worse position than we are. The entire school thinks that he's mad.'' Draco turned to Hermione, feeling her shaking underneath his arm. ''Go and get changed, you'll die of cold.''
Hermione nodded mutely, and walked into her bedroom, smiling half-heartedly at Ginny as she did so. Ginny smiled back and then swung around to face Draco again, glaring at him.
''It's a shame you couldn't have been so caring before you got her into this entire mess!''
''What?'' Draco stared at her in angry shock. ''This has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with Blaise's twisted mind!''
''And who put Zabini in the position where he has become that twisted? And who put Hermione into the position where she's been drawn into this entire mess?'' Ginny folded her arms in the way that she had seen her mother do a thousand times, but Draco didn't wilt in the same way that her brothers did.
''Hermione got into this of her own free will. I didn't push her into it at all.''
''She just woke up one morning and said 'Malfoy, I want to do something really horrible to Zabini, will you help me?' It happened just like that, did it?''
''Don't be so stupid, of course it didn't! But I didn't force her, and I asked her if she wanted to drop out of it, and she said no.''
''And you think it would be simple enough for her to do that?''
''Why wouldn't it be?'' Draco snarled at her, trying to keep his voice relatively low.
''She obviously has some kind of feeling for you, and she isn't going to be able to just throw that to one side and be rational! And now your stupidity has put her in the position where she's in danger of being attacked by that psycho in your house. I don't think that link should be forgotten!''
''What, we're both in Slytherin, so we both attack normal people at every available opportunity? For Merlin's sake Weasley, grow up! Hermione is not going to be in any danger.''
''And why not? What can you do? Pathetic little boy who runs away from everything scary, and hides behind daddy's robes!''
''That is not who I am Weasley. And Hermione will not be in any danger, because I am going to look after her.''
''Well that's a great comfort to me,'' Ginny said sarcastically, the venom in her voice dripping off her tongue. ''I'm so glad to know that Hermione is being looked after by one of the biggest haters of Muggleborns.''
''Can you not get past the fact that I have changed?'' Draco raised his eyes to heaven, willing himself to retain some degree of control. ''I will look after Hermione, she will look after me, and everything will be fine. You are overreacting about Blaise, he is all mouth and no trousers – just ignore him and he'll sink into obscurity, where he belongs.''
''You've really made yourself a little fool's paradise, haven't you?'' Ginny glared at him and stood up. ''You stay here in your dream world, I'm going to see if Hermione's got any more sense than you.''
As Ginny pushed open her door, Hermione jumped and turned to her, her wet hair pushed back off her face. She was wearing a pair of black pyjamas and a cute pink jumper but looked far from comfortable. ''Ginny…I'm sorry…I should have told you…I'm so sorry.'' Her eyes began to brim with tears and Ginny stepped across the room to hold her tight.
''It's ok, don't worry, I don't mind, you've told me now.'' She murmured into Hermione as she hugged her.
Hermione pulled herself back, took in a deep breath to calm herself and gave Ginny a watery smile. ''I should have told you straight away. I'm really sorry. Oh Merlin, Ginny what the hell am I going to do?''
''So, you believe that this is serious?''
''Of course I do! Ginny, Draco doesn't understand Zabini properly. He's been able to intimidate everyone his entire school life, so he doesn't really notice when people get angry, because he's used to being able to glide above all that. But I've seen Zabini angry and if you say he's out to get us, then I believe you.''
''You need to tell Malfoy. He doesn't believe me, and he thinks he's going to be able to look after you.''
''That's so sweet.'' Hermione smiled dreamily, and then seemed to snap back to reality. ''But is Zabini really serious?''
''Hermione, he showed me you two leaving the school grounds and then tried to turn me against you. I think he's pretty serious if he's trying to recruit supporters.''
''Shit.'' Ginny jumped slightly at the profanity. ''I need to go and tell him.''
''Wait.'' Ginny looked at Hermione. ''He can hang on a bit. I need to know…'' she paused, and Hermione felt her heart beat slightly faster in dread anticipation. ''I need to know how this happened!'' Ginny laughed and Hermione smiled. ''This is the weirdest thing ever, but he must be something kinda special if you're going out with him.''
''Well…it started like this.'' Hermione plumped cross-legged on the bed and began whispering to her friend.
Meanwhile, Draco stared at the fire, not wanting to admit that Ginny might have had a point. He turned his head as he heard a knock on the door. Pulling his wand out of his pocket, he moved slowly over to the door, and pulled it open, his wand at the ready.
Blaise's face loomed out of the dark, grinning at him. ''Draco, always a pleasure.''
''If only I could return the compliment. What do you want?'' Draco made sure that his wand was evident, trying to warn Blaise to watch what he was saying.
''I wanted to talk to you about your charming girlfriend.''
''Not this again.'' Draco sighed contemptuously. ''Piss off Zabini.''
''Don't speak to me like that!'' Before Draco could react, Blaise had his wand thrust up against Draco's neck. ''You've treated me like shit for too long Malfoy, and now you've left yourself vulnerable. You can't honestly expect me not to make the most of this?''
''What the hell are you talking about?'' Draco tried to edge back slightly from the wand tip.
''Don't try and back away now Draco! You've got yourself a little addition in the form of Granger…so sweet and vulnerable, wouldn't you say?''
''I think Hermione's proved that she's fully capable of looking after herself. How long did it take for that Stinging Jinx to go down?''
Blaise's handsome face crumpled into an ugly expression of rage. ''You think you're so tough Malfoy, but you've left yourself a pretty vulnerable spot, and believe me, she will be almost too easy to hurt.''
''Leave Hermione out of this. This entire vendetta is obviously due to your feelings of insignificance, although, let's face it : Zabini vs Malfoy, it's not a very flattering comparison for you, is it?''
Blaise grinned at him. ''Are you sure that's the way it works? I mean, you made a bet to get Hermione to like you, and succeeded, so it obviously isn't too difficult. Maybe I'll get rid of you, and have my wicked way with her.'' Blaise's twisted grin left Draco with no doubt as to his intentions.
''Sick bastard.'' He muttered, feeling the wand jab harder against his jugular.
''Don't worry, I might even wait until your wake to make my move.'' Blaise jabbed a little harder.
''Oh for Merlin's sake.'' Draco decided that he had had enough and quickly raised his hand, knocking the wand off his throat. Before Blaise could react, Draco had thrown his wand up and yelled ''Levicorpus!''
As Blaise was hoisted up in the air by his ankle, Draco stepped forward, their faces level. ''Let me get something perfectly straight Zabini. You are not dealing with Hermione on her own, or me on my own. Both of us are amazing individually, but we're even better together. Take on one of us, and you are taking on both of us.''
Blaise laughed, his voice sounding slightly strangled from the way that he was being held. ''Have you any idea how stupid you sound? Draco, say what you want, but you've made me look like an idiot, and I am going to get my revenge on you!''
''Suspending you in the air really isn't sufficient.'' Draco flicked his wand and Blaise crashed to the floor. Draco flicked his wand again and Blaise's wand zoomed away. Draco thought about keeping his, but some sense of honour prevailed and he tossed it to one side, leaping onto Blaise and pummelling him. Seizing his collar, he pulled him upright and punched him as hard as he could.
''Leave Hermione and I alone! We don't want your filth in our life.'' Blaise didn't even have a chance to retaliate. Draco stood up, panting slightly from the exertion. ''Just piss off Zabini. Get the message.''
Draco stood up and, after throwing one last contemptuous glance at Blaise, picked up his wand and walked back into his quarters, locking the door firmly after him.
Blaise stood up, and caught sight of his pulped face in the reflection in a window. ''Perfect.'' Wincing slightly, he hobbled off along the corridor.
Ginny looked back at Hermione. ''He does sound quite…sweet? I don't know if that's the right word. But if you can look past the way in which this started, and decide that you don't want revenge…I guess that's your prerogative.''
''I know it's nothing like what I would normally do…but…it just feels like I should do this. And don't worry, I'm not asking you to like him. Just, please, don't tell Harry and Ron. I'll tell them, but not yet.''
''You've got to tell them Hermione. You can't live two separate lives forever.''
''I know.'' Hermione buried her head in her hands for a minute. ''I'll talk to Draco, I'll get this Zabini thing sorted, and then I'll sort out Harry and Ron. I promise.''
''Good.'' Ginny hugged her friend and stood up. ''I'm going to go now, just please make sure you make Draco understand Hermione. This isn't going to go away on its own.''
''I know.'' Hermione stood up and walked Ginny out of the quarters. Turning around, she smiled at Draco sitting in a chair by the fire, and then gasped as she saw his knuckles. They were bruised and split, blood trickling down the fingers. There was a large bruise on his neck from where Blaise had been digging his wand in. ''What happened to you?''
''Blaise came by.'' Draco smiled grimly at her. ''He tried to intimidate me.''
''So you beat him up?''
''Yeah.'' Draco reached out to her with his bloody hands, and without even thinking about it, Hermione stepped into their embrace. ''Mione, have I dragged you into this? Because I didn't mean to.''
''You didn't drag me into anything.'' Hermione grabbed a tissue and began dabbing away the blood. ''I entered into this freely. I wish you hadn't gambled your way into it, but you did, and now you're in it because you want to be. Unless this is all some elaborate ploy.'' She bent down and gently kissed his neck, licking delicately at the bruise. Draco sighed in ecstasy and grabbed her chin, guiding her to his lips.
''I don't think I could act out the way I feel for you. Trust me, I'm not going to hurt you again, and I'm not going to let anyone else hurt you. You don't have anything to worry about. I promise.''
Hermione sighed and wriggled further into his lap, thinking all was well.
AN hey everyone hope you enjoyed that chapter. Would do stats and many thanks for reviewers but i'm very very tired, so i'll do shout outs in the next chapter…i got so many reviews and i really want to say thank you, i appreciate all the support i get so much. Kisses, love and all that shizzle Petitesorciere xxxxxxx