Chapter 2
A/N - Goodness! Well, the replies of a sequel seems that I should write a sequel, so therefore I am continuing the story! Thanks for those who did review. They lifted my spirits.
For the next few weeks, Draco had thought about Hermione many times; when he was in class, in bed, in the bathroom, with Pansy. He thought about her situation with Ron, and her situation with him.
When they encountered each other in the hall, she'd never look him in the eye. She'd just bury her head in her books and scurried away. He'd continue to smirk at her, as he had promised in the library - he stayed the same. He threw horrible remarks at her, made fun of her, but she had accepted it. She never retorted back with those wit of her.
He noticed she had hardly come down for dinner, and during lunch, she was at the end of the table reading a book. Neville Longbottom sometimes sat with her, and those were the only times he saw her smile. Otherwise, he hardly saw her outside of class and hardly saw her smile.
Ron was another case. He saw him always smiling, joyful, and with Lavendar Brown around his arms. They were together every time Draco saw him. Harry was occasionally with them, but most of the time with Ginny.
It was during dinnertime one evening when he excused himself from Pansy's grasp to finish some last minute homework. He needed to use a few books from the library and had to borrow them before they closed.
He hurried, having only ten minutes to get the books and talk to the librarian. Draco looked at one shelf of books categorized as "Magical Creatures", shook his head and moved on to "Astronomy". Again he shook his head, ready to move onto the next bookshelf. He had five minutes left. Draco turned the corner, hitting into something unexpected. He shuffled backwards as a yelp was heard. Hermione Granger was on the floor surrounded by books.
Stunned, he stood there paralyzed.
She glanced at him, and with the realization of who it was she bumped into, quickly turned away and tried to get herself up.
Draco shook his head and instantly extended a helping hand. She ignored it and started collecting the fallen books.
He bent down and helped her. She didn't object.
"I'm sorry. I was in a rush," he said, giving her the books.
The voice of the librarian suddenly filled the room, announcing they have one minute before closing.
"Crap," he cursed and shut his eyes. "Er-Granger, can you do me a favor?"
She looked at him expressionlessly, waiting.
"Uh - yeah - erm...," he stuttered, not knowing whether she'd help or not. He took a list from his pocket and showed it to her. "I need those three books. Do you know where they are? I really need them."
Hermione glanced at the list, pulled her wand out and muttered, "Accio Ancient Runes: The Perspective of a Goblin."
A book hurtled towards them and lightly landed in Hermione's hand. She handed it to him without a word.
"Huh. I wouldnve, world's" / 't have thought of that in a million years," he said as a matter-of-factly. He looked at his list again, "now I need Sir John-" When Draco looked up, Hermione had disappeared. "Where'd the hell did she go?"
"Library is closing. Proceed to Checkout now, please," Madame Pince announced.
After quickly muttering two more spells that gave him the next two books, he sprinted to meet the librarian just in time. She glared at him before allowing him to borrow the book.
The next day at lunch, Draco saw Hermione eating her lunch at her usual spot. Neville wasn't present.
"Draco, do you know what tomorrow is?" Pansy asked while stroking his arm.
"Thursday April 28. Why?" He answered as he stabbed his fork into his pasta salad.
"Isn't there something special happening that day?" She asked again as she slipped a hand under his white shirt and started rubbing her hand softly on his lower back.
His eyes grew wide as he remembered.
"That potions test is tomorrow, isn't it!" He exclaimed.
"Draco, I don't have that class with you, remember?" She said.
He looked at her puzzled.
"Our anniversary," she whispered and kissed his ear.
Draco cursed at himself for forgetting. "Erm, of course not, darling," he said and kissed her.
She smiled. "Good. I can't wait to see what you have planned. After our first month anniversary at that restaurant and the boat ride afterwards, I don't know what can top that."
He returned the smile, hitting himself mentally on the head. How could he forget? He'd never forget something important!
For the rest of the day, he rammed his head for ideas for tomorrow. He had written a note to a florist for a bouquet of flowers and special orders of chocolate, but after that, he was stumped. It didn't help matters when Pansy kept mentioning what she got him as an anniversary present.
"You'll just have to wait until tomorrow, honey. I don't want to ruin the surprise. Oh!- I just know you'll love it!" She remarked, over and over.
Draco sighed. She was about to be disappointed with what he came up with.
He excused himself for dinner. Draco didn't want to hear more regarding their anniversary, and he needed time to come up with something.
As he was walking down a corridor, he stopped still looking around to locate where he actually was, and smiled, for he wasn't far from the library. He sprinted toward the library, hoping that the person he wanted to see would be there.
Draco opened the door, too harsh though, resulting in evil glares from Madame Pince. He briefly said an apology before rushing to find her.
"Walk, Mr. Malfoy!" Madame Pince shouted after him.
He slowed down into a jog, passing by rows of shelves, his head snapping left and right in search of her, until he found her sitting at the table he saw her in last time. He screeched to a halt.
She looked up and saw Draco, hunched and out of breath. She kept staring.
Draco saw Hermione looking at him blankly. It made him nervous, since he couldn't detect anything she might be thinking of. There was no visible hatred, no laughter. Nothing.
Awkwardly he walked to her and sat opposite, her eyes following his every move. He suddenly wished she'd return to not looking at him.
"Granger, I need your help," he said bluntly. He looked at the table full of books. "Erm, sorry I'm disturbing your studies."
She didn't say anything.
Draco returned to gaze at Hermione, at her face, motionless, colorless. She was like a statue, without life.
"Er- okay," he stuttered. "I need the help of a girl. I'm only friends with Millicent Bullstrode, and you know how she is. Other than her, I don't really trust anyone else in Slytherin."
Again, she was lifeless. "I need help with planning my anniversary. Will you help, please?"
After a pregnant pause, she nodded.
Draco smiled. "Okay, if you were a girl...wait, never mind. You are a girl!" He chuckled nervously. She didn't think it was funny. He cleared his throat. "What I mean is, if you were my girlfriend, what would you want in an anniversary?"
Hermione scrunched her eyebrows slightly. Finally!- thought Draco, some expression! He stared at her, hardly blinking, as she pondered.
"If I was Pansy, I'd want to go to a fancy restaurant where everyone could see me," she said simply.
Draco made a face. "Yeah, but the thing is, I did that already. For our One-Month Anniversary. I need something fresh, something grander," he said.
She stared at him, once again expressionless. Draco sighed and laid his head on the table, softly banging his head.
"Don't worry. We'll think of something," he suddenly heard her say softly.
His head raised back up. "What?" He asked.
"We'll think of something," she said softly.
Those words sent goosebumps down his spine. She was talking to him, and not in empty words. She was comforting him with his situation. This was what he as hoping for, and when he did get it, he was speechless.
"If I was Pansy, I'd want to go on a boat trip at night and get back in the morning," she said.
Draco couldn't believe it. "I already did that, too."
"What about a concert?" She asked.
"There's no concerts tomorrow," he said, sighing. "But that would have been a good idea."
She sat there, again in her pondering state.
"What would you want as an anniversary date?" He suddenly asked.
He regretted it instantly as Hermione's eyes grew wary and dull. "I'd want to stay with my date in the forest, talking and gazing at the stars," she whispered so softly that Draco had to make an effort to hear her.
Hermione wiped her eye with her robe. "I'm sorry."
Draco frowned. He knew what the problem was and he was frustrated at Hermione for still being upset. "This isn't about the Weasel, is it?"
"Don't call him that," she muttered.
Draco scoffed, "I can't believe you're sticking up for that git! Don't you remember what he did to you?" He demanded. "I would have thought that you, above all people, have enough gut, brain, and heart to know when to move on from the people that hurt you, and just throw you away like you're worthless!"
"You're preaching to me about treating like trash, Malfoy?"
"I'm preaching you about pride, Granger. Have pride in yourself to know that you're better than him and his idiotic friend, Potter, the pride to know you can go so much farther in life than them!"
"I love them. They're my friends," she said quietly.
"Some fucking friends you have," he hissed. "Even I could see something wrong with the way they treat you, if you're always missing dinner, and eating by yourself during lunch."
"You- you notice...?"
"Yeah, I notice, Granger. It's plainly obvious they've pushed you aside. Way aside," he said harshly, brushing a few strands of loose hair out of his eyes.
Hermione wiped her eyes again, over and over, until she could be heard crying.
"I'm so stupid! I don't have anyone else, Malfoy! Without them, I don't know what to do!" She cried.
"Granger, you're the smartest person I know. Please stop whining about that," he said mockingly.
She just cried harder. Her face was buried behind her hands.
Draco suddenly panicked. "Granger, I didn't mean it! Wait, not about you being the smartest person! Wait!- I mean you are the smartest person I know. I just didn't mean the thing I said about whining!"
She kept crying.
"Er- do you want to have sex?" He cried.
Hermione stopped her crying and slowly removed her hands from her face. Eyes puffed and red and streaks of tears running down her face, she raised her eyebrows, "what?"
"Er, to get the stress off. Do you want to do it?" He asked slowly, realizing how ridiculous it sounded.
"You're not serious, are you?" She asked and started giggling.
Draco, confused, started laughing with her. "Why are we laughing?" He asked.
"Because of what you suggested!" She kept laughing.
"I don't understand," he said.
Hermione's laugh faded as her face became serious. "Were you being serious?"
Draco nodded. "I thought you'd want to do it, since you did it last time when you were sad," he explained.
"Malfoy, that was a one time thing. I was upset, and distraught, and not in the right state of mind. Vulnerable, I guess," she shrugged. "I hated losing something I've had for years just to get back at Ron, and where did that leave me, right?"
Draco looked at her, wanting to brush the wetness off of her cheek.
"Okay, let's go back to your problem. What about a dinner on top of a roof and then whisk her off the london town on a magic carpet, and afterward, you can show up somewhere crowded so she can be seen with you. How's that?" She asked.
Draco smiled, although he completely forgot about the anniversary, "Oh right. That sounds excellent."
"Good, because I have to go," she began packing up.
Draco sat still, watching her put her books away, her hair falling down, shielding her face from him. She tucked some behind her ear, swiftly, causing some of Draco's lust to surface once more. He gulped.
She stood up, bag hanging from her shoulder. She smiled, "good luck." She began walking away, before turning and added, "and we'll just keep the sex talk to ourselves, shall we? I wouldnve, world's" / 't want you and Pansy to have any problems because of me."
She walked out. Draco sat there for a good ten minutes before going to common room to make the necessary arrangements.