Keeper

Chapter Seven

For Clearance: Anything in Italics is either thoughts or memories. Or maybe even both, it should be clear enough I hope.

Harry drew Hermione into a quick hug, knowing all too well that he had to get on board the train quickly before it left without him, "You sure you don't want to come back with us?" He asked for the thousandth time since he knew that Hermione had decided to stay back at school for the Christmas vacation. He recalled the moment when she had told them, not really very well either:

"Hermione, are you alright?" Ginny asked as she looked over at her friend worriedly. Hermione was currently sitting opposite to her and Harry - Ron was sitting somewhere nearby also on the Gryffindor table.

At the instant Ginny said Hermione's name, her head shot up and she looked as if she was a deer caught in the headlights; like she had been found doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing. Her food, was unexpectedly untouched, she obviously had a plentiful amount to think about, whatever it was Harry and Ginny couldn't quite work it out.

"Um, I'm fine." She said hazily, "Just have, a lot to do." She looked up for a concise moment and immediately her eyes found someone or something in the direction of the Slytherin table, which caused her to look down at her dinner plate once more, her hair covering her face like a shady curtain.

"But you've got to eat something." Harry told her once he knew he couldn't figure out who she was looking at.

"I don't have the stomach for it."

Harry and Ginny exchanged questioning looks, before turning back to Hermione.

"Sorry guys, but I have to stay here for the Christmas holiday. At school I mean." She said extremely quietly and her eyes not leaving her plate, "I have to catch up on a few jobs and things." Before the two of them could say anything, they heard Ron snort sarcastically from close by.

"Things to do… right." They heard him mutter before he went back to stuffing his face with food. Harry cast him an angry yet confused look and Ginny did the same.

"Hermione? Are you sure? I mean, this is Christmas. You wouldn't really want to miss it for school, would you?" Harry started, his eyebrow raising ever so slightly but he was interrupted by a deep sigh from Ginny.

"Of course she would Harry, I mean, Head Girl. She wouldn't miss that for anything else!" Ginny stated to him smugly, as if she knew her more than anybody else, to which they both began on something between an argument and a discussion. Whatever they were talking about, they soon forgot about Hermione. It was good in a way, because then they didn't really notice Ron glaring at Hermione so much, that she was forced to get up from the table and merely leave, fuming at his childish behaviour. The hostility was far too much for her to take.

Hermione nodded as she pulled out of the hug, "Yeah, I've got Head duties to do. Remember?"

"Well, I'm glad I wasn't chosen for Head Boy then, I bet I wouldn't ever be able to give up my holidays for any stupid duties!" He laughed loudly, and Hermione slapped him playfully on the arm; she wanted to laugh at the irony of his statement, since there were actually no duties to be done, just a dumb deal she put herself into. But she promised to do something, and of course she was a girl of her word.

Harry greeted her with a brief "goodbye", placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and giving it a slight squeeze. Her lips curled into a small smile which Harry could see right past, he knew inside that she was definitely upset about something. He fought back the urge ask her to come home with them one more time.

He was just about to ask about why she seemed so down, when Ginny came over and buried her in a suffocating hug, beaming and bidding her last farewells to her best friend before the extensive journey home. After a short while, the question was lost amongst the commotion and Harry totally forgot what he was about to say, so he picked up the last of he and Ginny's luggage with his arms, before he went off to get on the train, very much hoping that Luna and Neville had already found them an empty carriage. With one last wave, he disappeared into a crowd of chattering students by the train.

And also before she knew it, Ginny too walked onto the train as its engine began to roar noisily, waving back to her all the way as she tried to catch up with Harry, leaving Hermione on the school train platform alone with Ron.

She looked at him, but saw that he was avoiding her, as he did since that incident at the Library - it was silly really. He shifted uneasily on his feet and brushed a hand across the back of his neck - as usual, he said nothing and Hermione had absolutely nothing to say back to him either. He took in a deep inhale before he swung his rather large rucksack onto his shoulder and walked quite hurriedly onto the train, without anything even as a look back. He just left, as if they nothing more than strangers anymore.

The good thing was, no one knew… at least not yet.

She held back the insistent push to just cry at that moment, things were more messed up then she expected now that she had the time to think about it. It seemed Ron was no longer her friend; and soon everyone was bound to know that she and Draco were now friends too (or perhaps even the slightest bit more – but she did not want to think of that); Charlotte, who seemed to be almost extremely bright all the time, was barely even seen around much anymore; and finally, Draco… she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise upon thinking of him, well, she should have said something to him, not just walked away like that. She didn't know just how to react, how to think, she thought that maybe if she had just treated him like she did when they had hated each other to the brim, things would go back and rewind to the way they were before, when things were simple and so much easier – squashing anything she felt for him along with that too.

Of course she was wrong.

She felt here lip quiver and knew the tears were going to come, the train rushed off into the distance, a cloud trail of steam bellowing after it, leaving her well and truly alone with her thoughts. With every few feet or so away it took, the more she wanted to be on it, on her way homeward too.

Draco waved at his so called "friends" as the train took off for London, he saw Parkinson blow a kiss at him from one of the windows, and he replied with a distasteful glare before casting his gaze onto a pebble that lay beside his shoe, why was she still chasing after him? Once the train was well out of sight, he decided it was time he got himself off this platform before he froze to death. He saw Hagrid, the school's groundskeeper, lumbering around not too far off ahead of him, and he gave him a polite nod to which Hagrid responded with a shocked look and a try for a small smile – at least he tried right. Draco sighed before turning around to head for the castle, kicking the pebble as he went.

He recalled that he, and from what he had heard, Hermione had been avoiding one another for a long time. It's got to be around three weeks now at least, and that's especially hard if you live with each other too. If he saw her around the school, she would be gone before he even got close, before he even got to say anything. He wasn't exactly sure if it was something he did or said, because he hadn't really said anything to her that gave her a reason to be mad. But he knew she didn't want to be near him, so he let her be, no matter how much he wanted to be near her.

The only time they met properly, is when they had their compulsory duties to do, in which they would work wordlessly before separating quickly afterwards – it was an awkward process which had to be done.

Otherwise, he spent his free time playing Quidditch or, if need be he hung around with his old group of Slytherin friends again, they were more than willing to have him back anyway, especially that Pansy, she's been all over him since he was back. Been crawling right onto his lap, reminiscent of when they were a couple. Of course Draco still took to pushing her away; she wasn't and will never be Hermione Granger.

That was all that he wanted.

But, nevertheless, Hermione Granger isn't and never will be his to have. A simple fact that shouldn't feel like a stab in the gut, but it did and it sucked severely.

"Come on Draco." Pansy whined, latching on him and wrapping her arms around his neck, "What's been wrong with you lately? Its like you don't even know me anymore." She crooned in his ear, her babyish voice becoming more annoying with each word she said.

Draco gave her a disgusted look and took her arms with his hands, prying them away from him and trying to get himself unattached from her. He got up from his seat - which was currently the sofa in the Slytherin common room - and since he was avoiding Hermione, he took a good liking to hanging out in his old common room again. Besides, they were having a party tonight, so why miss out on the fun? The holidays, it seemed, were well on their way to arriving, so in their opinion, it was about time they should celebrate. Also, the group were slightly shocked when Draco decided to hang with them again, but eventually, they just let him stay, despite him not really giving them a good enough excuse for his absence.

From behind him, he heard the other guys that were hanging out with them snicker at Pansy's facial expression, which was usually hilarious every time she found she was rejected, particularly if it was by Draco - her mouth dropping down almost to the ground. Unfortunately, when it came to him, she would never back down without a good fight. Always coming back for more.

Draco stuck his hands into his pockets and leant onto the wall nearby, so that: one, he could be away from Pansy; and two, see the group clearly from where he was standing. Soon enough they sprouted into another fruitful conversation, sharing stories and catching up with one another. They laughed at a few other jokes and for a minute or so, Draco felt as if though everything was normal again; Pansy even came over to him and he had the decency to wrap an arm around her shoulders. Naturally, she started grinning like an idiot, thinking that he had won him over with her flirtatious skills.

The night was going to be a long one.

But evidently, it had begun to get a little late and the Slytherin sixth years had somewhat enough magical liquor to drink, some perhaps having way too much over their limit, luckily it was a Friday night, the hangovers could go unknown by any of the teachers at least for a few days – it would give them plenty of time to recover – not that its supposed to be acceptable, because it certainly is not. Draco, was one of those kids who had got themselves absolutely drunk – well, his only problem now, was how he was going to walk back to the Head's Quarters in this state, staggering around like a drunken fool, obviously trying to drink his sorrows away. (No one was sure whether to feel sympathy for the guy or not.)

Before long, Pansy had found him again, amongst the crowd and without a second to loose she had tried to smother the poor guy with an intoxicated kiss. Before he could do anything to stop it, his mind took over and all he could smell and taste was the liquor, all he could feel was her tight grasp. Of course, he had obliged at first, thinking that she was somebody else, a certain girl on his mind, but a few seconds into the kiss, he realized how wrong he was.

He found himself tangled in Pansy's grip, his arms found encircling her waist too, their lips locked with one another's – through the noise and the sound of his mind screaming, he heard a few wolf whistles from the Slytherin's.

As if by extreme shock, he leapt back, pushing her away from him. He wiped his lip shakily and stumbled away from her to which she tried to follow him desperately.

"Draco?" She asked, perceptibly shocked by his sudden reaction. Draco's head stung, the drink getting to him and making him exceptionally groggy, though he tried at his utmost to stay awake. He lifted a hand to his temple and flinched at his headache.

"Getta way fro meh Pansy!" He said fiercely but sleepily, trying to make his way out of this crazy crowd of students. She grabbed onto his arm once more and Draco pushed her hard away, so that she fell back and bumped into a group of the guys which Draco knew well.

They turned around to see the commotion and didn't really take a liking to being interrupted from what they were doing. They knew Draco had been "off" lately but he didn't have to hurt a fellow house mate, something was getting to his head.

The guy had changed somehow.

"What's up Draco, what's wrong with you?" Blaise asked him, as he stood to his full height and began staring him down, "What did you do to Parkinson?"

Both boys looked over at the girl just mentioned and as expected, found her sitting on the floor looking like a complete mess, crying her eyes out.

Draco almost smiled through his drunkenness, but then he furrowed his brow and looked tremendously serious, well if you ignored his unstable swaying on the spot, "I thought she was somebody else, sorry. Not who I thought it was." He whispered to Blaise, pointing at her, "I didn't wanna kiss 'er."

Draco laughed before trying to find his way out again, but Blaise blocked his path and raised an eyebrow at his strange behaviour.

"What are you on about mate? It's always been you and Pansy, remember? Ever since you guys were young. We may be smashed but we still know tha-" He began saying, placing a hand on Draco's shoulder to steady himself and look him right in the eye.

Draco growled and slapped his hand away from his shoulder, staggering back against a wall, "No! Not us! She's not the one. No no…" He trailed away into a mumble, shaking his head vigorously like a child.

"Huh?"

"'Mione. Yeah she's the one." Draco smiled sheepishly to himself, grabbing a bottle of liquor from the hands of a fifth year and taking a swig from it before throwing it away.

Blaise slapped himself and almost snapped out of his inebriated state, did he just hear that? He laughed loudly and poked Draco in the chest jokingly, "No, not her, stop joking around man!"

"Am not lying – eh, don touch meh!" He yelled pushing him off angrily.

"What! Not lying, you can't like her. No no no!" Blaise said through gritted teeth, grabbing his friend by the collar of his shirt, "You're drunk, jus gone mad I say."

"Am not! Am no liar! I like 'er!" He said, raising his voice and grabbing a handful of Blaise's shirt too.

"Bastard!" Blaise roared, "Traitor!"

"Am not!"

"So that's where you've been all this time, hiding with your little mudblood girl were you? No wonder we haven't seen you in weeks – you've replaced us with some stupid Gryffindor girl!"

"Shut up!" Draco screamed at him, shoving him away with a heated push, "Don't you ever call her that!" Blaise fell backwards and snarled before stalking back to his opponent.

"It's true! It's all true, isn't it?"

And before Draco could even retort back, Blaise curled his hand into an unbreakable fist and threw a punch at Draco, feeling the solid contact as it connected with his friends jaw – hearing the faint click as it did so. Blaise gasped at the pain and stroked his bleeding hand, shaking it as if to numb the pain – it was a strong hit. Draco, was knock down and immediately his hand shot up to his mouth, there he found his mouth was bleeding; he spat out the blood and felt his lip stinging. Then he staggered up and threw himself onto Blaise, where they both ensued into a brawl, trying urgently to kill the other with no sense of mind.

In due course the two boys were pulled apart, despite Draco's arm around Blaise's neck as he tried to strangle him, they were held back from each other by several other strong guys in their house.

"She's a mudblood!" Blaise screamed, struggling to get his hands back on his new found opponent, no longer a friend but now an enemy.

"You jerk!" Draco replied, escaping the grasp of the boys who held him back and throwing another punch at Blaise in the chest. Blaise spat out a mouthful of blood and groaned in the pain, curling back away from Draco as much as he could.

Instantly the other boys were by his side again, holding back Draco's flying arms, and he tried more than ever to escape them, kicking and screaming. They took him to the portrait of the common room, fighting the drunken teen with all their might and pushed him out into the dark and empty corridor of the dungeons: by now attracting a crowd of people from the party.

Blaise pushed past the students angrily to get to the front of the crowd and once there, he eyed Draco with disgust.

"Draco, what would your father say?" He told him, wiping the blood from his cheek before pointing at him accusingly. Draco steadied himself against a wall and glared back at the crowd.

"Don't you come back until you sort yourself out!" He continued, his voice echoing in the silence of the hallway.

Draco laughed almost wickedly at Blaise's statement, "Bastard." He muttered before walking for the comfort of his own Quarters. He heard them hold back Blaise as he tried to throw himself at Draco in the hopes of fighting him again.

"Draco!" He heard Pansy yell from a distance, but he merely ignored her, walking away precariously as he smiled.

He arrived into the security of his common room sooner or later, after having haunted the darkness of the school corridors just to get back, his wand in one hand just in case there was any need to use it.

After he woke up Sir Cadogon, and simply disregarding his questions about his whereabouts, he stumbled onto the staircase with the total intention of minimally going to his room to just sleep. However, once he got to the top of the stairs, to the somewhat centre of the corridor connecting his room to Hermione's; he changed disposition completely, turning to head for her room.

"'Mione!" He shouted, punching her door once, so hard he almost thought it was going to break down.

There was silence from the other side of the door so he decided to continue, "Hey! Are you awake?" He cried, banging her door a few more times, as if to dare her to come out, "I had a fight with one of my best friends today, and you know what? It was all for you."

He laughed hysterically at what he had just said, and thought he just heard a shuffling from inside the bedroom.

"Come on Hermione! Get out here, I want to see you for once!" He said as kicked the door, very much hoping to break it down, all so he could get in, "I need to see you!"

Suddenly, her bedroom door shot open and revealed a rather scared yet flustered Hermione on the other side. She eyed him suspiciously as Draco smiled upon seeing her.

"What are you doing Draco?" She said delicately, searching his eyes for answers.

"Finally," He said sighing with relief, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards him so that they were barely even inches apart, "I can see you now." He grinned sheepishly and swayed on the spot just a little bit.

Hermione could smell the stench of alcohol all over him and at the instant she knew that it was best that she didn't strike a nerve, muggles and magical people alike could do crazy things when they were drunk - he was probably particularly fragile right now, "Draco, you reek of alcohol." She whispered as she tried to free herself from his grasp, lightly yet firmly.

"No, don't leave me." He said, raising his voice and hugging her, wrapping his arms around her body so that it was more difficult to escape from him.

"Draco, no. You're not thinking straight."

"Yeah I am." He muttered, his voice steadier than it had ever been all night, it appeared she was making him, to some extent, feel more sober, "I'll sleep outside here all night if I have to."

"No." She stated, "You don't deserve that." She tried to smile but it was so weak you could barely even call it a try. Draco smiled back all the same, taking hold of her hand. At first she flinched but then he felt her ease into it.

"Come on, let's get you some rest." She continued, seeing Draco getting extremely heavy-eyed. Steadily, she led him to his room, where she made him sit down on his bed so that he could get some sleep; she too sat on the edge of it as he did so. Hermione make an effort not to look at him, because she just couldn't, not yet. For a moment everything became awkwardly quiet.

"Um, Draco." She said turning around to where she knew he was, but then she stopped when she found him already asleep, snoring lightly, looking very peaceful in the light of the moon. She smiled to herself and attempted to leave as quietly as she could, removing his firm grip on her hand and getting up.

Hermione stopped at the doorway and turned to look back, smiling at him she said, "Goodnight Draco," before closing the door behind her and returning to her room, finding it very difficult to sleep.

Draco walked slowly towards the exit of the platform, but then his eye caught something ahead of him, slowly and surely he made out the figure before him and knew that it was Hermione.

She was standing a little bit away from him on the platform, with her back to him at an angle; she seemed to be staring at something that wasn't there, the winter wind playing with her hair. Draco just stopped walking and stared, without knowing anything better to do. Unconsciously, Hermione took a loose strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear before a faint smile appeared on her face; Draco saw this and couldn't help but smile too.

As if by instinct, Hermione sensed that someone was watching her, her head turned quickly to the direction that Draco was standing in. Draco didn't know how to react, so he cast his gaze down to the floor again, hoping that she didn't catch him gaping at her, like some sort of love struck fool.

But then, after a while, he felt the urge to look up, he found Hermione walking away from him – again, without even looking back. He sighed, (when she wanted to be she could be real stubborn), he took a small step forward, as if she would just come running back if he did. However, he found that she didn't.

"Hermione." He said, just to hear the sound of her name on his lips.

Hermione felt the need to turn around and find him again. But her feet kept walking, perhaps getting faster with each step she took. It was stupid really, there was no use running away from her problems, she did need to fix them, and fast.

At that thought, she looked up and snapped out of her daze, her feet halting on the spot they were in too. Hermione turned around with one movement and began walking back to where she knew he was, before she knew it she had broke into a quick jog and was on the train platform again; as expected, she found Draco standing in the same spot she left him in, she recognized his usual standing position, hands in pockets and face completely emotionless. She stopped only when she felt his eyes on her, and without even knowing, she smiled.

Draco raised an eyebrow but then he smiled back. Hermione did the only thing she could think of at that one moment, she ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head in the crook of his neck, slightly knocking the wind out of him. She felt him stiffen at the contact but then almost at once, he returned the gesture and put his arms around her small waist.

"I'm sorry." She said, her voice muffled against the cloth of his jacket.

"I'm sorry too." He replied tightening the hug, and smiling faintly.

"I should have said something; I shouldn't have been so horrible and treated you that way." She argued.

"No, it's alright, you had a reason to, right?" He asked, trying to be even the slightest bit comforting.

She just shrugged and Draco felt the need to laugh, so he did. Before long, Hermione laughed too, burying her face in his chest again.

Suddenly, Draco stopped laughing and all he could do was stare at her – damn, this girl was so confusing, one moment fighting, and the next, acting like he was the object of her affection – well, he wanted to clear something out.

He wanted to kiss the right girl this time.

"Hermione?" He said questioningly, to which she looked up and smiled, happy to have cleared one of her problems up.

Man, he couldn't resist it anymore, he had been waiting too long for a moment like this, wanted to do this for an awfully long time. He then enclosed the space between them and without doubt, he kissed her, he heard her gasp against his lips but he ignored it, just closing his eyes tight so that the moment wouldn't end. Now all he could feel was her soft lips on his and all he could hold was her. To begin with, she had made an attempt to push him away, their lips still connected however, her grasp was now equally tight on him.

At that moment he couldn't think of anything else, and he made no effort to bring the kiss any further, it was chaste and innocent, a show of emotion that he felt.

He cupped her cheek with his hand and smiled. Despite the bond between their lips, he felt her smile too.

A/N : Well, there. Sorry for the extremely long absence and this excuse for a good chapter. I assume it was to quickly written and that it probably makes no sense. But hey, they kissed right? Finally, and there will probably be a few more kisses to come, because I am definitely a sucker for romance. I must try to update this story sooner and this chapter too, sorry if you didn't quite like it. It's just a chapter I thought of writing for the benefit of the story, yadda yadda. Anyway, review and I wouldn't mind a few suggestions. Reviews are mostly the only reason I continue. So hint hint.

Well, enjoy!

-Fallen11angel