Chapter 5 – Back Again
When Hermione had got to the Potter's house she'd been given a slight pitying look from Luna when she opened the door. She'd obviously heard.
According to Luna, Ron had been round late last night looking for Hermione after she had run away from him. He had explained to them that she hadn't been 'willing' and that there was only 'so much a guy could take'. Harry had kicked him out after realizing that Ron had cheated on his best friend... multiple times.
Harry wasn't there when Hermione got there, because he had Auror duty, even on a Sunday, much to Luna's disappointment. Hermione stayed with Luna for the rest of the day and Luna was surprised at how calm she was at the situation. But Hermione wasn't going to tell her that it was because she had spent the morning with the Malfoy family and they'd been the ones to cheer her up.
Luna had asked Hermione to stay with them until she gets back on her feet but realistically, she didn't really want to. Hermione loved Harry and Luna but Luna was seven and a half months pregnant, they'd been married for a year and Hermione didn't want to intrude on their married life. Even more so was the fact that Hermione was single, lonely and didn't really have anyone to rely on right now. Their life was so perfect in comparison to hers, that it made her feel a little bit sick.
Hermione had also been asked the dreaded question of where she had stayed last night and she didn't particularly want to go into those details. So she decided to keep it vague and said "a friend's house." Luna asked no more questions.
Her afternoon with Luna was going well until someone Hermione was avoiding seeing showed up.
The doorbell rang and Luna got up to get it, having no idea who was at the door. Then Hermione heard the voice of The Devil Ginny Weasley.
Hermione wished at that moment in time that Harry wasn't so safety precautious and that there were no anti-apparation wards around the house. Because Hermione currently wanted to apparate the hell out of this place.
She could hear Luna trying to talk Ginny out of coming into the house but Ginny wouldn't take no for an answer. "She's here isn't she? I knew it." Hermione heard Ginny push Luna aside and storm into the house. Luna is a pregnant woman for crying out loud! You just don't push her!
Ginny barged into the living room where Hermione had just stood up, awaiting the confrontation. "I knew you'd be here! You can't last five minutes without any of us. I bet you're here looking for sympathy. Well you know what? You don't deserve any. It's your fault that he cheated on you!"
"How on earth is it my fault that he cheated on me?"
"Because you're a frigid mudblood, he told me so himself." Well that's a bit weird.
"Did he also tell you that he hit me? You know, that's against the law." Hermione removed the glamour charm she had put on her face that hid the cut from Ron and his ring. She heard Luna gasp from the other side of the room. "Did I deserve that?"
"You deserve everything he did to you Hermione."
Just then the front door opened and Hermione wasn't planning on sticking around. Harry walked into the living room where the heated argument was currently taking place. This was Hermione's cue to leave, because Ginny's accusations would be interrupted by Harry.
"Hi Harry, I'm sorry but I have to go. I don't really want to stay where I'm not wanted." Hermione grabbed her bags. "Thank you Luna for today, it was good until that showed up." She said looking in Ginny's direction. She rushed past Harry and out the front door, leaving a rather angry Harry Potter ready to kick one Ginny Weasley out of his house like he had done with her brother the day before. He'd had it with these Weasley's recently.
Hermione ended up in muggle London after walking around for some time. She had avoided the wizarding community because she didn't want to see any familiar faces right then. She walked down street after street until she came to a road that she recognized. She was stood right outside Malfoy's house.
She didn't know whether to knock on the door in the pathetic helpless state that she was in or run and leave before she embarrassed herself further. She decided on the latter. But luck obviously wasn't in her favour. Just as she turned to leave, the front door opened and Draco stepped out of the house. She would have tried to run away or apparate but that would've been too obvious and couldn't easily style it out. She considered hiding behind a nearby car but that would've been unbelievably ridiculous. In her decision making Hermione had hesitated and Malfoy looked up and saw her standing there looking rather distressed.
"Granger?" He asked incredulously.
"Yeah, erm, sorry, I didn't have anywhere else to go." Draco continued to walk towards her. "I'll go; I don't even know why I came here." She began mumbling to herself.
"It's fine Granger, you can stay another night." He sighed.
"No, I can go to the Leaky Cauldron, it's fine. I really don't want to intrude on whatever it is you're doing. Thank you for helping me last night Malfoy." She turned to leave, but Malfoy began talking again.
"Pizza or Chinese? I was thinking Chinese and that's where I was headed originally but since you're my guest I suppose I better ask you, especially since I got told off by my mother earlier for not being a better host." He began walking and she just stared in bewilderment. "Well? Are you coming?"
She hesitantly followed him to the muggle Chinese takeaway restaurant and realized that she was also starving. They ordered their food and after much persistence, Malfoy paid for it, much to Hermione's displeasure. She had offered to pay more than once, but Malfoy had downright refused.
"Why are you doing this?" Hermione asked him once they'd arrived back at his house and were sat at his kitchen table, eating their food.
"Well, normally I eat when I'm starving, so I thought I would this time as well. It usually works."
Hermione smiled despite herself. "That's not what I meant and you know it."
"I guess I couldn't leave you in the alleyway in Hogsmeade, it's obviously not safe. Also, there is probably nothing more that I hate than Weaselbee. And since you hate him as well I thought 'Hey! We've got something in common, why not?' But then, I also owe you, like big time." Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I was horrid to you in Hogwarts. I guess this is my weird way of saying sorry I suppose. I'm trying to show that I've changed, hell, all the Slytherin's are. We're trying to show that we did the things that we did because of our families, which is true. He- Voldemort threatened to kill my family if I didn't kill Dumbledore, then Snape ended up doing it and only after did I find out about his agreement with Dumbledore. Voldemort put my mother under the cruciatus curse and forced me and my father to watch, and then he did the same to us. That's why my family is so close now, in fear of that happening again. We weren't right for a long time with Voldemort around. Although my mother can smother me from time to time." He said, rolling his eyes.
"Your mother is lovely, I'm going to be completely honest with you, I wasn't expecting any of you to be that nice to me, being friends with Harry Potter."
"My mother lied to Voldemort for him, for me. But still, in Hogwarts, I said those things, called you that word..."
"Ginny called me a mudblood today." She said bluntly.
"What? I know this is kind of hypocritical of me but she can't call you that. You've done nothing wrong. I'm sorry for calling you that word, I really am, but she's supposed to be your friend. If there's one thing that Slytherin's are good for, that's being loyal to your friends. I swear to Salazar I just want to rip them to shreds." Hermione laughed at Draco's outburst. "You say she called it you today? I thought you were at Potter's? And if I remember correctly he was married to Lovegood."
"Well I was at Luna's and Harry's, but he wasn't there so it was just me and Luna. It was all going fine and then Ginny showed up. Luna tried to send her away but Ginny pushed her out the way and walked right in. And Luna's pregnant!"
"I'm sorry but you just don't push a pregnant woman."
"That's exactly what I thought! Anyway, she came in, started shouting at me, blaming me, called me a mudblood and just as Harry got home, I left and here I am."
Draco paused. "Hermione you have to get your stuff back, you can't be living in fear of Ron Weasley." He sneered at the name. "You can stay here until you sort everything out but you need to go and get your stuff back before he steals it."
"What do you want me to do? Walk in there to get my stuff back only to have him hit me again? I'm sorry but that's not the first thing on my Bucket List. The only thing I want back, apart from my dignity, is Crookshanks."
"Of course he's not going to hit you again if I'm- Wait, what's a Bucket List?"
"It's a muggle thing. It's a list of things to do before you die. Anyway that's not the point; he will do something if I go there."
"Well I'll come with you, hell I'll get loads of people to go." Draco got a few pieces of parchment out of a draw and began scribbling rushed messages on them.
"What are you doing Malfoy?"
"I'm getting back up. You, are getting your stuff back and trust me, he won't do anything with these guys there."
A/N: Sorry for the delay, I'm not too sure when the next chapter will be up, hopefully it will be soon! Please review!