Keeper

Chapter Six

"Ronald!"

Ron brushed a clumsy hand through his hair, and straightened himself up, as he turned around to face the person who was calling out his name. When he saw that it was Charlotte, who was waving quite wildly at him, he smiled and gave an awkward wave back, before he spun back around to the librarian and gave her a curt nod. She took the book, which he had just returned, and plastered heavily, a large stamp onto its inside cover – indicating that the book had now been returned safely to the school library.

He couldn't help but flinch, as she began to scribble some notes onto a scrap and ragged piece of notebook paper; her ink quill, scraping as ugly and noisily, as pulling some rather sharp fingernails down a worn chalkboard.

Turning back to Charlotte, who had by now already made her way past the study tables and towards him; he greeted her with a grin and a light, "Hello Charlotte!" Or tried to, at least.

She giggled shyly for a little bit, before she turned a shade of deep pink and cast her gaze away from him.

Feeling uneasy, at the rising tension, that had began to grow between the two of them, Ron cleared his throat strangely and said, trying to make some sort of decent conversation, "So, what are you doing here?"

Immediately, Charlotte looked up at him, so that they were now - for the umpteenth time, looking at each other, face to face. "Oh, well I was just giving a book to Hermione, over there." She stated, pointing a finger and indicating to the place, where she had only recently handed a dictionary over to Hermione, in a rarely used section of the library – or rarely used, by those normal students of Hogwarts, for Hermione however, it was a different story.

Ron threw her a confused look, and followed the path in which Charlotte was pointing to. He too pointed his finger, at the shady area covered mostly in a ton of aged looking bookshelves and dusty floorboards. "Over there you said?" He asked, questioningly and raising an eyebrow.

Charlotte merely beamed and nodded: now that Ron thought about it, she was a lot like Luna, character wise, who knew, the two might actually get along if they met. "Must go over and say hello then." Ron said, as he began to make his way over to the spot nearby.

Suddenly, Charlotte jumped into his path and blocked his way, a shy and small smile on her face. She waved her arms around in front of him, possibly suggesting that it wasn't such a wise idea to go there and see his friend, "No, no! Don't do that, she has company."

Charlotte knew all too well, that if Ron would see Hermione hanging out with Draco Malfoy (of all people), he would be furious, and Hermione probably wouldn't be all too pleased to see him either. This was not the right time for such reunions.

And even her, you didn't really know the popular trio too well personally, knew perfectly that Draco was clearly a sign to stay clear of, especially when with the other two males of the heroic group were nearby.

Ron backed up a bit; a puzzled expression could be read all over his features. "Let's just go now, alright?" Charlotte said encouragingly, trying desperately to divert the boy away from trouble. She took one last look back, and caught a glimpse of Draco, pulling a miserable looking Hermione into a tight and somewhat friendly hug. She gulped fearfully, and tugged at Ron's arm, pulling him away as quick as she possibly could yet trying to be subtle about it.

Ron, being dragged away by an over-crazy Charlotte, scratched his head – confused, and took a sneak glance back, just to check if Hermione was alright. But there, a sight which caused his blood to boil and caused him to gasp, his mouth dropping open with such length downwards. He angrily yanked his arm away from Charlotte's grasp, and turned around fully so he could see for sure, if what he thought was there, was actually really there.

How dare he! How dare Malfoy even try to touch Hermione!

Ron straightened up, so that he looked rather taller and more, to some extent menacing. He began to walk hastily toward the two, who were sharing a chair together somehow, and just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, he saw Hermione do something he thought he would never see in his lifetime, or in any other lifetime to be more precise. She reached up and hugged Malfoy back! Well yeah, she did look like she was crying or something like that, but this was completely out of hand, and very uncharacteristic of her.

This was the boy she had hated, for her entire stay at Hogwarts so far! The boy who had tormented her for all these years, calling her unrepeatable names and playing heartless tricks on her for entertainment; he would never have any sympathy for her, nor any feelings either.

He stopped for a moment and Charlotte took immediate action. She gripped firmly onto his arm again, and began to pull Ron in the other direction, "Ron?" She knew all to well inside, that this was to some kind of extent, her doing, and she felt ever so guilty.

Ron instantly relaxed at her touch and the sound of her voice, turning to face her he said, "Charlotte, stay out of this. Okay?" He whispered loudly, to which Charlotte shook her head vigorously and continued to pull him out of the library, so that the other two were nearly out of sight.

"Hermione!" Ron yelled out to her. Hermione and Draco suddenly pulled apart, and immediately Hermione knew who had just screamed and why he had done so. Ron had just seen her, or rather, the two of them together. Upon thinking this, Hermione caught sight of Ron and looked straight into his eyes which, though from a far distance, held such a feeling of disappointment in them. She gasped in utter demolishment, and Draco, in reassurance took hold of her hand in his, to try and comfort her in some way; but Hermione snatched her hand away frigidly, still maintaining her stare with Ron.

"'Mione, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Was the last she heard, as Charlotte gave one last heave, to get him out of the room and trying to stop him from causing any more damage. That one last sentence rang in her ears, and inside she never felt so distraught.

"Ron, I don't think shouting is going to help." Charlotte breathed out tiredly, once they were out and away in the next few corridors. Ron staggered back out of her reach, and continued to breathe heavy for a while, before he finally snapped out of his daze and looked up into Charlotte's eyes for answers, but he eventually found none.

She took a step towards him, although, he put up a hand and begged her to stay back. He then clenched his hands and bit his lip, as he turned to her and said heatedly, "I better go… and pack my things."

Charlotte stood there astonished, as he walked away in a considerable rush, and understood, that he was talking about leaving for the vacation. She sighed and turned her head slightly, so that she could look behind her, in the direction of the library.

This certainly was going to change things quite a lot. Definitely for more than one person too.

She wasn't sure if she follow a furious Ron Weasley and pack her own belongings, or to just stay out here for a bit. Maybe it was best, if Ron didn't see her for a little while, she must wander around, just to clear out of his way. It was probably best, if no one was near her for the time being, maybe more of her own doing might cause a lot more to happen.

Hermione got up and glanced around worriedly, the tears stinging her eyes once again. Draco, followed her immediately, standing up too, a feeling of bemusement flowing right though him. "Why on earth was Hermione getting so damn upset for?"

He placed a soft hand on her shoulder, causing Hermione to jump in shock before she shrugged it off calmly. Draco drew back his hand in despair and a frown played onto his delicate lips, he thought of something smart to say but then pursed his lips so that none of the words would come out – the situation seemed too awkward at the moment.

"Hermione? What's the matter?" He began, but was cut off when she turned to him, a swift hand drying the tears on her light, rosy cheeks.

"Nothing is the matter Malfoy." She replied coldly, to which Draco scoffed loudly.

"Since when do you call me Malfoy, Hermione?" He asked, a small smirk emerging on his face, perhaps thinking it was some sort of joke.

But her face still held the same expression of sadness, except that it now looked angrier than it did earlier; instantly the smile was wiped of Draco's face and he became serious again. She took a step forward in a somewhat intimidating sort of way before she spoke again, "Since we first met Malfoy!" She spat out to him.

Draco looked back at her with such confusion, "I thought we were over that! I know I hurt you before, but that was a long time ago, I'm over it! You know I would never hurt you now or ever." She still remained quiet though, still emotionless as ever.

He raised an eyebrow and was about say something else comforting but then suddenly his defence mechanisms kicked in, and he felt his pride erupt somewhere inside him.

"What's wrong with you! Did I possibly do something to hurt your fragile feelings… again! Damnit, there is just no bloody pleasing you is there. God!" He heard himself say before he couldn't even think straight.

And with that, Hermione did not even bother to reply, she breathed out deeply before she just stormed out of the library with such great pace, that even Draco was shocked. He did a quick double take before he finally realized that he should go after her and sort this mess out, "Wait!" He said.

After all, things had just begun to turn out quite well.

He raced out of the busying library, past prying eyes and out into the vacant corridor, where Hermione was not too far ahead… thankfully.

"Hey!" He yelled out, and when she barely even flinched and kept on walked on, he ran after her, sighing with the utmost exasperation and rolling his eyes.

"Heyyy!" He continued, walking behind her closely, "Hermione!"

She still, ignored him however, so Draco grabbed her arm in order to get her full attention, pulling her back towards him roughly so that she bumped right into his front and looked straight into his eyes, "What is bloody going on here?" He said.

Hermione tried desperately to pull herself away from his grasp but he was too strong, and the more she struggled, the more it began to hurt, "Nothing! Let me go this instant!"

"No!" He said, raising his voice to a threatening level and tightening his grasp on her.

Tears stung Hermione's eyes from the pain, and she tried to give one last tug back to retrieve her arm, but failed, "Please Draco, you're hurting me…" She said in a whisper, the tears flooding out freely.

All of a sudden, he realized what he was doing and his expression softened with the guilt, he let go hurriedly and took a leap back, looking down at his hands as if they could not be controlled. Hermione too stumbled back, in order to increase the space between them, and she then rubbed her arm so that the numbness would go away. She looked up at him with hurt in her eyes, "I want to leave now. Please." She said, so quietly but he still heard every word she uttered.

Nevertheless, he still felt there was something wrong with all of this, so he ran in front of her and blocked her pathway, receiving a brief look of shock from Hermione, "Don't you just leave. Not now." He told her equally as quietly as she did to him.

"Ron knows." She told him in a matter-of-a-fact kind of way, "And he acted just the way I thought he would. He'll tell. The whole school will know now. Don't you care? I won't have anyone anymore… no one!" She continued, raising her voice slightly and getting upset again, just when she thought she was beginning to calm down.

"You know what. I don't care if the whole school knows. I don't give the slightest damn care in the world, Hermione! Let them know that I think that the most amazing person I think I've ever met is you. Let them know. But you know what; you're the one who doesn't care!" Draco shouted at her, feeling wounded.

At first Hermione looked stunned and for a moment Draco thought she was going to say something, but then she didn't - she just opened her mouth and then closed it again, before just walking away from him. Just like that, leaving him there in the corridor.

He clenched his fist and turned around clockwise to watch her leave, "Hermione!" He called out, but she kept walking on, "You may think you have no one, but in the end you'll always have me."

For a second Hermione stopped and looked back at Draco, from the distance he wasn't sure what her eyes said, and before he could say anything more she carried on walking. Soon, moving completely out of sight, as she turned into another hallway.

"Don't you walk away from me! Don't walk away from this!" He bellowed loudly, hoping she would hear and just come running back, but of course his luck never changed.

He sighed to himself, and made a start in the opposite direction. Maybe things like really didn't work out after all.

That was all just complete and in the end, disappointing wishful thinking.

He looked out of a nearby window and took in the beauty of the day, warm winter sunshine and dew swept grass fields. He saw in the Quidditch field, a faint blur of flying green uniformed figures. Sighed to himself, remembering the practice that he had scheduled for today, since he was now captain of the team.

He hurried off, conjuring his brown along the way there. Maybe, spending some time in they sky could clear his mind, or could just take his mind off the subject of anything related to Hermione and how he felt about her.

He knew exactly what he was getting himself into when he found out how he felt, although, as things have turned out beforehand, he knows now that nothing ever goes well for Draco Malfoy.

Draco stepped out into the chilly winter air and mounted his broom, not bothering to greet his fellow companions and team mates, but getting straight to the flying. They all obliged willingly and a rough came into play on the field - an easy way for Draco to get rid of his anger.

Hermione, however, buried her face in her pillow, but she did not cry – there were no more tears left to cry. What the hell was she going to do?

The next thing she felt, was a vast nothingness as she fell into a deep, dreamless and meaningful sleep. Well, it's a good thing, she was going to have another late night anyway. Things can sort themselves out, as fast as they come undone.

A/N : Hey there! Well, sorry if this was too long of a wait, and if this chapter was way too short. Thats just because its more like a build up, tension thing chapter so I can have something for my next chapter... right? If you understand what I'm trying to say and all. I promise it gets better again, and for those of you that do care about her, I know I do, no worries - Charlotte the great, will be back soon. And yeah, please don't hate Hermione for this chapter, she was just upset. Okay, I feel like I used everyone now just to make you feel sorry for little Draco.. drool. ANYWAY! Woop! Gotta run. Please, as always, read and review, tell me what you think yadda yadda... Enjoy whatever! It would make my day.

-Fallen11angel