Keeper

Chapter Three

Decidated To Anna

Hermione walked hurriedly out into the empty corridor, looking in both directions, hoping to find out which way Draco went. But he wasn't in sight.

She sighed, as she walked around the hallways blindly and without a single clue about where to go. She looked worriedly for any sign of him.

She strolled on, until the sounds of the students in the Hall could no longer be heard, and it was almost eerily silent. She carried on, until something caught her eye. A passageway which she had never come across before, it looked unused and abandoned.

Curious, Hermione headed down the passageway, and towards a large door at the end. Dark shadows followed her as she passed by dirty windows with warm sunlight passing through them and causing sleepy cobwebbed portraits to awake from their slumbers.

Sure that it was another dead end, yet willing to check out the area; she placed a hand on the old oak door and gave it a small push. Once it opened, a gust of cold air rushed in along with more sunlight and the sound of birds from outside. She felt calmer, except it didn't last long, for she saw Draco sitting outside on a bench. With his back to her, and his head in his hands; he was a little far off but she knew.

She knew it was him.

Hermione took a deep inhale and stepped outside, drawing her jumper closer around her in the cold. She remained glued to the spot as she battled with herself mentally; now that she had found him, she had no idea what to do or say. One part of her wanted to turn and just leave him there. The other part, wanted to go to him and make sure he would be alright.

Eventually, she took another step towards him but then stopped again. Staring at him, she wondered if there was anything she could possibly do to help. Hermione wanted to reach out, put her arms around him and tell him things would get better. However, she wasn't sure if she could do it, she wasn't sure how he would react.

"I know you're there." He said quietly, not even turning around and causing Hermione to jump.

She took this is as a chance and went over to him gradually, sitting next to him when she arrived. Making sure, she wasn't too close or too far away from him.

She continued to stare, unable to take her eyes away from him, she absorbed every detail of the moment.

Draco sat up, dropping his hands onto his lap and lifting up his head. He turned to look at her, and for a moment their eyes locked.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, almost inaudibly.

"Um... I just wanted to see if you were alright." She replied just as softly, afraid to say the wrong thing.

"So, are you?"

The silence continued a while longer before Draco spoke.

"I'm fine." He spat out, somewhat fiercely.

"That's good." She said, trying to force a smile but she failed.

A wall grew between them, and the silence grew once more.

"Granger, you know that's complete crap."

She gasped, shocked by his words, and she felt herself getting quite irritated.

"Well, I actually was checking to see if I could help. Is it so bad for someone to see if you're okay?" Hermione felt her cheeks burning up.

His eyes widened before he exhaled profoundly and cast his gaze to the floor.

"It's not like we're supposed to be friends or anything, because we're not. So why bother?" Draco answered, his finger tracing the sewing's of his shirt.

"Because I want to. I felt like it." She said, raising her voice, hoping that it might get into that thick skull of his.

He was obviously frustrated, his anger building silently inside him, because he suddenly started to yell at her, fists clenched and presently ready to punch something.

"Well, don't worry. Alright? It's not like I'm worth caring about, am I?" He said, furiously.

"How do you know that?" She retorted, and becoming quite scared of him.

"I said don't. It's because of mudblood's like you, that- ergh! I bloody hate you all. I hate you. I don't mean anything to anyone, I don't mean anything to you-" He shouted, only stopping when he saw Hermione flinch and he knew he had gone too far.

He felt a pang of guilt inside him and he drew back; she didn't deserve to be yelled at, especially since his anger wasn't really because of her. He was just taking it out on her, it wasn't fair.

They were silent again, Hermione staring at the stone bench they were sitting on and Draco looking at her.

She turned to him, opening her mouth but then closing it again. She sighed and stood up; Draco looked at her, confused and culpable alike.

"Sorry I bothered you." She whispered.

She turned to walk away, tears watering in her eyes but he got to his feet quickly and grabbed her arm, frightened to let her get away. Hermione struggled a little before turning back to look at him, her tears ready to fall down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, that wasn't fair." He started to say, a hand reaching up to wipe away her tears but he couldn't bring himself to do it and she twisted her head away. She began to cry.

And she didn't want him to see.

"I didn't mean any of it." He continued.

Hermione, made one last attempt to get her arm back from Draco, and eventually he let her go. His heart was, to some extent, broken.

She staggered back, to be away from him. Then, running away with her head in her hands, and bumping harshly into Blaise before taking off again, totally ignoring him.

Blaise rubbed his arm, before looking at Draco and smirking.

Draco swore at himself for being so incredibly stupid and hot-headed. He didn't mean to say any of it; he certainly did not hate her. In fact it was beginning to be quite the opposite.

"Hey, good going with Granger." Blaise said, giving Draco a pat on the back and tearing him out of his thoughts.

He pulled back, and looked at him distastefully.

"What? I'm just trying to say, you finally got her to crack. Well done. I'm sure your father would be proud."

Draco cringed, and felt a growing hatred towards his family, towards anything Slytherin and related to his life.

"Shut up."

"Why?" Blaise asked, confused.

"Just shut up Blaise."

"No."

"It's you and my bloody family, that's what's wrong with me!"

"What are you even on about mate?" He said, raising an eyebrow.

"Granger, she's crying because of me. I didn't mean it. Just-"

"So what, she's just a filthy mudblood." He interrupted, before pulling a face, "It's disgusting." Blaise continued.

Draco felt a swell of anger within him; he grabbed Blaise by the collar and gave him a hateful glare. "Don't you dare call her that."

"Wh- what's wrong with you?" He asked feebly, throwing up his hands in defeat.

"I'm a freaking mess, that's what!" He let go of Blaise, shoving him backwards as he did it. As he staggered backwards he attempted to fix his uniform.

"Well, that's who you are."

Draco pushed the hair out of his eyes and made his way inside, roughly moving Blaise out of the way as he went.

"Hey! Draco, where the hell are you going now?" He called after him.

"I'm going to apologize."

He began walking slowly, and then starting into a run to the fifth floor, wishing that Hermione would be in the privacy of their own dormitory so they could talk. He severely wished that she would accept whatever attempt of an apology he might give.

Draco really had made a real mess of things, not that years of torture had helped in her growing dislike towards him, but this time it was different. A lot different. If there was one person in the world he would want to mend things with, it would be her.

She was the only one who could possibly care.

Hermione sat in the comfort of the large armchair and brought her knees up to under her chin. She dried her damp face with her jumper sleeve and buried her face, wrapping her arms around her legs.

That was exactly what she didn't want to happen. She knew he was angry but not that much. She held back another surge of tears as she recalled the way he told her that he hated her.

Of all the times that he had said it or shown it through his actions, that was the only time that she felt it sting.

Hermione had only cried in front of him because she was confused. One minute he was yelling at her, the next he was saying sorry and it was truly believable. The moment she had heard him apologize, she wanted to believe him. But she couldn't, she was too bewildered to think straight and she knew that Blaise was coming. He would only make things worse.

Hermione brushed the hair off her face and rested her head on her knees again, watching as the flames in the fireplace flickered mutely over the wood.

She took one last deep breathe before she was satisfied that she was calm and completely back to normal. She tried to rid any thoughts of Draco away from her mind.

As if on direct cue, she heard the portrait swing open from behind her and her heart began to race knowing that Draco was now there. Things were complicated. She didn't want to talk to him. Not yet.

Instinctively, Hermione turned around and there he was; standing a few metres away from her and he actually looked sorry. His eyes met hers and after a few seconds she tore them away, revolving back to her original position. She heard his faint footsteps and suddenly he was standing directly in front of her.

She let out a gasp at his sudden appearance, yet still trying desperately to avoid him. Draco saw this, and sighed to himself.

"The silent treatment huh?" He smiled weakly at her, but she didn't see.

Draco sat down beside her and leaned in, so that they were quite close. Hermione continued to look anywhere but at him, yet she almost took reassurance in the fact that she could feel his warm breath on her.

"Granger, I'm really sorry about what happen earlier. I was angry and I really didn't mean anything that said to you." He began to say, and when he was met with an empty silence he continued.

"Despite what you think, I certainly do not hate you. I just want you to know that. And I apologize again." He took a deep breathe after he finished and leaned back, giving her some space.

Hermione unhurriedly, turned to look at him and he smiled at her.

But she still stayed quiet.

Draco felt like, though she wasn't talking to him, that she was the only one who would listen and understand him.

"I know you're not paying attention."

Hermione, with her head and hands still on her knees, looked up and her eyes found his again.

"Or maybe you are." He said as she nodded.

"Basically, I don't want to be an evil twat, or a damn death eater or anything of the sort. To be honest, I actually want to be a better person." He waited for her to say something, but she remained hushed, yet still maintaining eye contact.

"It's just that, my bloody father is driving me mad, he won't let me go. Always pushing me to be something I don't want to be and, now that he's in Azkaban it's even worse. Don't get me started on my mother. I can't even look at her; I don't even know who she is. So, though you may think I'm one thing, I'm actually not. There's more to me that you could possibly think. And believe it or not, you're the only person I trust. The only bloody person I feel I can talk to, and your not even talking to me-"

Hermione made a sudden movement and took his hand, stopping Draco abruptly from his "emotional speech." Her eyes looked sad, but she smiled weakly at him.

Draco, looked down at their hands held together, and then back up at Hermione's face, he returned the smile, feeling his cheeks getting somewhat hotter.

He entwined his fingers with hers as the moments of silence waltzed by.

"So, are you talking to me now? I mean, I just told you my whole bloody life story." He said, breaking the ice.

Hermione looked up from their hands, blushing.

"I guess I'm going to have to, aren't I? I can't have you turning into an 'evil twat'" She quoted him, laughing a little.

"Listen, I'm really sorry. And believe me, that's the last time you're going to hear me say it."

Hermione nodded, squeezing his hand faintly, "Well, apology accepted."

Draco smirked at her, and waved his blonde hair away from his eyes.

"We can be friends, right?" He said distantly.

"I don't exactly see any rules that say we can't be." She answered, after a while of thinking.

"Alright, so, um… truce. You know, a clean slate and all." He said, letting go of her hand momentarily and holding it out for her to shake.

"Truce." Hermione told him, beaming.

She extended her hand to shake with his, but then stopped mid way causing Draco looked down at his hand, feeling confused. He suddenly got the wind knocked out of him as Hermione enclosed the space between them through a tight hug.

Her hands were draped around his neck, and her head rested against his. Draco stared wide eyed for an instant, not sure how to react. But then he let himself go, and wrapped his arms around her waist, returned the hug and smiling to faintly himself.

"I knew there was some good in you." He heard her whisper.

"I guess there is."

"You know, this is absolutely crazy." Hermione said quietly, drawing back a little so that she could look him in the eye.

He smiled at her, "Yeah, I never thought in a million years that I would hug you." Draco teased.

Hermione hit him lightly on the arm and broke the hug, sitting back down beside him on the chair.

"I never thought I would hug you either." She told him, as she looked down at the floor.

She blushed, after just unexpectedly realizing that what she had done. Hermione turned to him and looked quite worried.

"Oh my God, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to hug you or anything, Oh my-" She began to explain through a rampage of babbling.

"Hey, hey!" Draco raised his voice over hers, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Don't worry about it." He paused, before shrugging and finishing his sentence.

"It was actually kinda nice."

A/N : There it is, well I can't say anything more apart from please, please, pretty please read and review. And by the way that was not begging, it was a bit more like pleading. Tell me what you think of the story. Anyways, I wrote this for Anna, who is my good friend/classmate because I was having extreme writers block and I had no idea what the hell to write. So she gave me a few pointers, ehem the fight and make-up, and I used them. Well, she was a fan of the story, she didn't want it to just stop. Yeah, shes cool. Thanks buddy!

Definitely saved by the bell! - I have no idea why I wrote that.

-Fallen11angel