I'm terribly sorry about the long wait! I wanted to thank those who reviewed last chapter, because they were really useful and my motivation to get this chapter out. I've always wanted to point out one of my pet peeves. I don't agree with the way that most people portray Pansy. I think that there's more to her than we see in the real books and we don't get to see why Pansy is the way she is, because the focus is on Harry. I feel bad that Ginny is the bad guy here, because I like her as well, but to fit in this story there couldn't be both Pansy and Ginny supporting Hermione. Thanks once again for the reviews and listening to my little rant. Enjoy the story :).
Chapter Thirteen – The Bitch is Back
Hermione woke up to a pounding headache. Her newly darkened hair covered her blue eyes from the blinding sun. Who had decided to open those curtains anyways, she thought grumpily. Groaning, she buried her head deeper into her pillow. Although, as she buried her head, she realized that it wasn't her pillow.
In a panic, she sat up right away, but regretted it immediately as it made her head pound. Looking around, Hermione realized that she was in Pansy's dorm as there was Slytherin colours everywhere. Just in case, she peered under the covers and was happy that she was still dressed. Right as she was about to get out of bed, the door swung open.
Confusion overtook her when it was Draco that walked through the door instead of Pansy. He looked like he had already gotten ready and in his hands were a potion, coffee, and a bagel. His stormy grey eyes hadn't noticed her yet as he tried to shut the door while juggling all the stuff. Hermione took a second to observe him. He seemed to be taking great care to not make a lot of noise and he looked cute as his brow furrowed in concentration.
"Do you need help with that?" Hermione asked as she tried not to laugh at how ridiculous he looked.
Draco jumped, "Oh, I didn't know you were already up. I remember that you used to sleep in really late."
He looked really uncomfortable and adorable, so she decided to help him out, "Are those for me?"
"Yeah, I know how bad hangovers can get. One hangover potion, some coffee, and a bagel are usually what help me out," Draco told her and not knowing what to do with himself, he put his hand in his hair and ruffled it.
Hermione felt a bit bad that he felt awkward, "So do you know what happened yesterday, because I barely remember it?"
He gave her the food for her to take and sat down, "I wasn't at the party for long. Pansy, Potter, and Blaise had a run in so I decided to get away. You were quite wild by the time I got there. You were dancing on some tables with some friends and stuff."
"Did I hook up with anyone?" she asked horrified.
"Not from what I saw, but you were flirting with quite a few of them," Draco explained.
"Oh god, I don't even want to think about it. How did I end up here?" Hermione asked him confusedly.
He looked a bit nervous, "Well, you saw me and started talking about a few things. I figured that you had drank way past your limit so I brought you here. It was a good thing too, because half way here you passed out. I hope you don't mind that I changed you, but you had thrown up on yourself during the night..."
"I'm sorry that you had to take care of me. I hadn't planned on drinking that much, but Pansy's friends kept filling up my glass and well yeah. Thank you, I really appreciate it. Your hang over breakfast really does help too," Hermione smiled.
"Do you need anything else?" Draco asked her worriedly.
Hermione was happy that they were talking and that he took care of her, but then she pictured him and Emma together. She had completely forgotten about that.
"No, thank you again. I appreciate your help. I'll give your clothes to Pansy," Hermione said as she got out of the bed, grabbed her stuff and started leaving.
"Wait... I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?" he asked her.
She sighed, "I'm sorry, but I have things to do today. Maybe some other time."
Hermione gave him a weak smile before leaving. As soon as she was out of his sight, she walked away as fast as she could without looking ridiculous. As much as she appreciated that he took care of her, it hurt her as well. Why was he being so nice suddenly? Deciding to forget about it until she told Pansy, she kept walking only to be interrupted by Daphne Greengrass.
"Hermione are you okay?" she asked concerned.
Hermione looked confused, "Yeah, why?"
"We were all worried about you yesterday after you ran into Draco. You really unleashed it on him, I've honestly never seen you so pissed or sad since I've known you. I've also been around long enough to know that Draco usually doesn't take that shit from anyone, so I was surprised that he was taking care of you and left with you. You're one lucky girl. Oh by the way, watch out for Emma," Daphne advised her, "I hear she has something against you and well, just be careful."
Daphne left Hermione confused in the middle of the hallway. She must have become friends with Daphne yesterday at the party, especially that she knew so much about it. It was weird and really unexpected. She was gaining Slytherin friends by the day the way that Pansy and Blaise were gaining Gryffindor "friends".
Hermione felt her feet mechanically move towards the Heads common room. She wondered what Draco meant by Blaise and Pansy's run in, but she figured that she would find out soon enough. As she walked towards the common room, she kept feeling eyes staring at her. Whenever she turned around though, no one was watching her. Figuring that her run in with Daphne and Draco had set her off, she shook her head and kept walking to the common room.
Shock filled her when she entered the common room. If anyone had told her she would walk in on Pansy and Harry asleep on each other a year, hell a month ago, she would've sent them to St Mungo's. She had to be off her rocket. It made her burn with curiosity with what happened yesterday night. Hermione opened the curtains and the dark room was suddenly flooded with light. Harry and Pansy both moaned.
"Morning," Hermione said neutral.
"Mia was that really necessary?" Pansy asked her as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
She laughed, "It's lunch time, but I guess you wouldn't know that."
"I thought you would be extremely hung over this morning," Pansy grumbled.
"Unlike someone here, someone ended up taking care of me," she replied as she cleaned up the common room a bit.
"Awe... Draco still loves you. I told you so," she giggled at Hermione's face.
"Shut it Parkinson or I'll hex you," Hermione said annoyed.
Pansy raised her hands in surrender and muttered a spell to fix her hair since it looked like an animal had been living in it. Harry had woken up slowly, but he was quiet. He didn't know if he was allowed to talk and felt awkward around Hermione still. He didn't know if she could ever forgive him, not that he blamed her. It was weird to see how she interacted with her new friends.
"Lunch just started so you two can make it on time. I would watch out though, I hear that there's a lot of gossip going around about the two of you since you left the party together. Pansy, I would also like to have a word with you when you have the chance," Hermione told her seriously.
Pansy knew to take the hint and looked at Harry, "You can go down without me. I have to take care of some things and I'm not that hungry."
"Okay, I'll talk to you later," Harry replied, "Bye Pansy, Hermione."
"Harry," Hermione acknowledged before he left.
"Fill me in on everything," Hermione said as soon as they were alone.
Pansy blushed, "Nothing like that happened at all. We just fell asleep talking yesterday."
"I heard from someone that you guys had a run in with Blaise?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, I hate this whole situation. I thought that I could possibly get over Blaise with Harry, but yesterday I realized that I was happy just being friends. Blaise seemed so indifferent and he honestly looked like he didn't care at all. I don't know what to do," she explained frustrated.
"At least you didn't wake up in his bed with no memory of how you got there," she told Pansy.
"Did you and Draco do anything last night?" Pansy asked incredulously.
"No, do you think I would even want to kiss him after what he did?" she replied shocked.
"Well, let's not kid yourself. You're not over him and you would and will," she replied uncomfortably.
"I don't know what happened yesterday to be honest. I remember looking for you after I confronted Ginny and asking Theo where you were. He told me you left with Harry and I wanted to have a good time for once in my life so I joined some of your friends that actually don't hate me. I woke up this morning in an unfamiliar bed. I thought I was in your room until I noticed the guy clothing everywhere. Just as I was getting up to leave, Draco walked in with a hangover cure. We were friendly and I was happy about that until I remembered what he did. I left. I ran into Daphne Greengrass who was actually friendly towards me this morning. She told me to be careful of Emma and that Draco took care of me after I bitched at him at the party."
"Wow, I'm sorry I wasn't there yesterday. I wouldn't worry about Emma. What more could she do really? She has been keeping a low profile lately too. Honestly, just give it some time for you and Draco. I'm not saying to forgive him, but i think you could be friends. He does seem quite sorry and distressed over it. Daphne's weird like that too. I wouldn't worry about her, she's harmless I promise," Pansy said.
Hermione smiled, "Thanks. I would tell you the same thing about Blaise. I know he's treating you like absolute crap, but he did find out something quite life changing. He's probably just trying to avoid how he feels about it and he can't do that around you. Just wait for him, he'll come back."
"I hope you're right. I'm hungry. Let's go eat some lunch," Pansy suggested enthusiastically.
They both got up and left the common room into the slightly crowded hallway. Again, Hermione felt like people were staring at her and she was beginning to feel like she had done something completely ridiculous. People had even started to whisper to each other. She looked questioningly at Pansy who shrugged. Neither of them had any clue to what was going on. Hermione was sick and tired of everyone at school judging her. Did they really have no lives so they had to destroy hers and make her feel worthless? Apparently, because there were even a couple giggles directed at her. Someone shouted something that made her blood run cold. Now she knew what was going on and she didn't like it. That voice replayed in her head.
"So Granger, who's the father?" a voice yelled out, but she couldn't tell from where.
Hermione looked at Pansy confused once more as they tried to find the source. There were more people mumbling by now and Hermione was freaking out. What was going on? She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Miss Granger, I need to have a word with you," Professor Dumbledore told her gravely.
Hermione was beyond confused at this point and followed him wordlessly. Everyone was staring at her at this point. Professor Dumbledore never came out in person to seek a student, he always sent letters. They knew that this was a big deal then. Hermione was trying to figure everything out in her mind, but she didn't know what was happening. It felt like ages before they arrived the gargoyle. Recognizing Dumbledore, the gargoyle let them up and they walked into his office. Hermione sat in the offered seat.
"Sir, I'm afraid I don't know what is going on," Hermione told him.
Professor Dumbledore sighed, "A student came forward and told us of your pregnancy Miss Granger. I'm very disappointed in you as you are our Head Girl. Due to the circumstances, we are going to have to ask you to leave our school as we disapprove of students having any sexual relations."
"Wait, what?" she spluttered, "I'm pregnant? Professor, I believe you are mistaken. I'm not pregnant. Who told you this?"
"I can't disclose that information to you. Are you positive?" he asked her without the usual twinkle in his eye.
"Yes I'm positive! I'm not pregnant at all and for you to assume that much is insulting. I don't appreciate being dragged here in front of all my peers on a rumour," Hermione said coldly, "I assume that I'm allowed to stay then?"
"Yes, you may," the Professor answered, "I must check though."
Hermione looked incredulous, "You don't believe me, but you believe vicious rumours? You should really check who you start believing."
Professor Dumbledore didn't answer her and preformed a quick pregnancy spell. She glowed blue for a second and she knew that the spell confirmed what she had told him.
"If that is all, then I must leave," she said angrily as she stormed out.
Now she knew why people were whispering about her and she knew exactly who had done it. So much for keeping a low profile. Hermione was going to end this once and for all, because she had enough of people doubting her over stupid rumours created by a selfish bored girl who must really not have a life. Determination was shown on her face as she searched the school for her.
Emma innocently was walking along the hallway, when Hermione spotted her. It was just after the dismissal bell, so the hallways were crowed. Hermione didn't care though; she was filled with rage at this one coward. She walked angrily up to a smirking Emma and slapped her across the face. The slap made a resounding noise echoing off the stone walls and Emma had a red hand print on her face.
"How dare you?!" Hermione yelled as everyone stopped to watch.
Emma looked nervous as she had never seen this side of Hermione before. When had she learnt to stand up for herself?
"Answer me," she said furiously.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Emma replied indifferently.
Hermione restrained herself from punching her, "Were you that jealous of me that you had to stoop that low? You're a disgusting excuse of a witch. It's funny how you lost all the friends you've had here. You lost Draco, Blaise, Pansy, Harry, Ginny, and everyone else that could tolerate you."
"That's funny. Ron seems to love me quite a bit," Emma retorted angrily.
She laughed, "Does he know that while you were dating him you fucked Harry, Draco, and god knows who else behind his back? Oh my god, that's where you got that stupid rumour from."
Emma turned white as she was very aware of who was standing in the crowd, "So you stole the insult that I threw at you at that one party and told everyone I was pregnant. Do you know how humiliating that is? I had to get called up to Professor Dumbledore's office where he was contemplating whether or not to expel me! What the fuck did I do for you to hate me? You stole my friends, my boyfriend, practically my whole fucking life away from me. You're so worthless, I can barely look at you right now."
Hermione didn't notice her slip up when she referred to Draco as her boyfriend. Draco took note of this and decided he needed to talk to her. Blaise, Pansy, and Draco were on the fringe of the crowd ready to help Hermione if she needed it. Apparently, she was doing fine on her own.
She laughed angrily at Hermione, "What did you do to me? So you're telling me that you have no idea who I am. Emma is my middle name; my real name is Gabrielle Emma Dumont. Does that ring any bells?"
"Wait… that's impossible. Gabrielle Dumont wasn't a witch," Hermione said suddenly understanding.
"You ruined my life Hermione. I would never forget you and I'm insulted that you would forget me so easily," Emma spat at her.
"I was 9 years old at the time. I didn't know what I was doing!" she retorted defensively.
"You ruined me and my brother's lives. You split up my parents. Do you want to know what happened when you moved away from France?" Emma snarled, "My father left with his much younger mistress. It drove my mother so insane that she literally went insane. My brother and I had to live at an orphanage. Tu n'as pas d'idée tout le dommage que tu as causer. Ma famille n'as jamais rétablit notre vie après cela et fallais que je vit avec des étrangers. Juste à cause de ce que tu as fait. Tu me demandes qu'est-ce que t'as fait? Tu as détruit ma vie, alors j'ai détruit ta vie aussi. By the way, Hermione Granger isn't a virgin. She had sex with Fred Weasley many times a couple summers ago. We're even now."
Emma noticed that Ron had stormed away angrily. Sighing, she chased after him leaving Hermione alone in her discovery. Draco tore through the crowd and led her back to the Heads common room where she could recover from her shock. He knew that Blaise and Pansy were meeting them there. They all wanted to know what the fuck was going on and what Emma had just told her in french.
Once they arrived in the common room, Hermione started pacing trying to sort out her thoughts. For one, she was angry at Emma. No matter what her reason was, you couldn't just go and ruin someone's life. Emma had no idea what was going on in her life and she felt that she had an equal amount of things to deal with that Emma had. She was sorry about what she did, but Emma couldn't justify what she did.
"Okay Hermione slow down," Blaise spoke up for the first time, "Why don't you explain to us what's going on."
Covering her surprise that Blaise was not only talking to her, but was also here made her extremely happy. Hermione noticed that he wasn't paying any attention to Pansy which she assumed was due to last night. They really just needed to stop being so stupid and get back together. Pansy was determinately not looking at him and Blaise glanced at her with eyes filled with some kind of emotion she couldn't identify. Could they just stop being stubborn?
"When I was 9 years old, I had no idea that I would become a witch. My neighbour and best friend was this other girl named Gabrielle Dumont. Now that I think about it I should have recognized who Emma was. We used to live at each others' houses and told each other everything just like all girls do. Her parents were happily married and Gabrielle would always tell me about how they fell in love. I always dreamed of having a love like theirs. One day I went over for a sleepover. Her father had been working late a lot, so it surprised me to see the light on in his study while I was going to get a drink. I peered in to make sure that the light hadn't just been left on. When I looked in, I saw her father with another woman doing things no 9 year old should ever witness. I pretended to be sick and went home to tell my mother. She was also really close with Gabrielle's mother, so naturally she told her what I had witnessed. It became this huge disaster and Gabrielle was so angry at me for ruining her parents' happiness. My father got offered a job somewhere else, so he took it because the situation was hard on everyone in our family," Hermione explained while she looked out the window.
"I guess she never got over it. Hermione, it's not your fault. What else were you supposed to do?" Pansy told her gently.
"Be a better friend?" Hermione suggested.
Blaise looked slightly angry, "Hermione, stop blaming yourself. You were 9 and you did what you thought was right. No, scratch that, you did what was right. If you hadn't have said anything her father would still be having an affair and it would eventually be discovered. Emma, well Gabrielle, is immature for holding a grudge against you."
Draco just sat there quietly, "So, you're not pregnant?"
"No!" Hermione exclaimed, "Not at all thank god."
"Obviously not, let's be honest. You're not an Emma," Pansy laughed awkwardly.
The whole room was filled with awkwardness. Why would Draco have to ask that? Hermione thought he would know better, but they didn't really know what was going on in each others' lives anymore. Hopefully, no one would bring up a certain piece of information that she chose to ignore. Emma had told the whole world pretty much that she lost her virginity to Fred Weasley. The way that Draco was looking at her made her decide that they needed to talk. Only George and Ginny had known what had happened between her and Fred so she knew who had been the source of that information. After everything that had happened, she really didn't care what the school thought.
Pansy was fidgeting and finally decided to leave, "I have some homework to catch up on, I better leave."
Pansy left soundlessly and Hermione wondered what was going on with her. Blaise gave her a look that told her he was going to catch up with her later. He walked out of the common room following Pansy. Hermione really wondered what was going on. She was so caught up in her thoughts, she had completely forgotten about Draco still being in the room. It was a little ironic, because whenever he wasn't around he was constantly on her mind.
"So it's true then," his quiet voice brought her out of her thoughts.
Hermione looked at him startled, "About Emma? Yes, it's true."
He stood up frustrated, "No, not about her. Is it true that something happened between you and Fred Weasley?"
"Yes," she replied caught off guard by his question.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Draco asked her seriously.
"Because it's none of your business and it's not like we've had a balanced friendship this year. Hell, we haven't had a stable friendship in so long. What I do is none of your business." Hermione replied angrily.
"It is my business and I want to know when it happened," he demanded furiously.
Hermione laughed ironically, "That's a bit hypocritical don't you think? You fucked Emma, the girl who purposely sets out to destroy my life, and I'm the bad one here? Fuck you. Fred and I had a thing going on before we were ever friends. It was so long ago that it doesn't even matter."
"But it does matter to me, because you never talked to me about it. We used to be best friends and I honestly miss that about us. I hate Emma and I don't talk to her, but you're still quite close with the Weasleys. What am I supposed to do with that information?" Draco asked her rhetorically.
"What are you supposed to do with that? Are you serious? It's not like we're dating and that I intentionally kept this from you. In fact, we never dated. Get over yourself," Hermione spat at him.
"We were practically dating last year. Don't give me that, it's your fault we didn't go out. I pretty much asked you to be my girlfriend and you rejected me," he explained to her.
"Thanks for bringing that up once again. You know that I regretted it. Fuck, why do we keep fighting about this this year? It's done and over with. That was last year. It's a new year," she replied.
Draco was pissed, "Honestly why do we even bother? I already apologized for Emma and I'm sorry for everything. I was stupid last year when I was with Daphne."
"I honestly don't know. I just know that I keep seeing you and Emma together whenever I look at you and I can't stand the sight," Hermione replied exhausted from the fight.
"I can't stand the picture of you and Fred Weasley in my head either. Look, I think we're even now. Can we just start over again?" he replied equally as tired as she was.
"Do you really think that's possible? I mean we're Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger. We have more history than anyone I know," Hermione asked him.
Draco looked at her with his piercing grey eyes, "Exactly. We're Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger. We can do whatever the hell we want to do and not have to worry about it. Start over?"
"Just promise not to hurt me anymore," she asked vulnerable.
He sighed, "I'm sorry for that. I promise I won't, just don't hurt me either."
"I wouldn't and I haven't to date. Why did you do it? I just need to know," Hermione asked him the hardest question.
Draco sat down frustratedly, "I don't know. I saw you and Theo together which made me incredibly jealous. Emma played on that jealousy and one thing led to another. I haven't talked to her since then and I've felt terrible for it."
"I know you have," she admitted quietly, "Theo was someone I needed to date. Thanks for taking care of me yesterday. I heard that I bitched at you yesterday and I didn't mean to."
"I'll always take care of you. It's okay, I deserved it. So what happens now?" he asked her searching her eyes for any kind of answer.
"I don't know. We've both made mistakes here. Do you think we can still have something?" Hermione wondered out loud.
"We both have and I think that if we forgive each other we can," Draco said, "Here, let's see."
Hermione looked up at him curiously, because she didn't understand what he was talking about. Draco stood up and walked to her looking at her determined. Her heart leaped at that emotion crossing his face. If he was willing to give this another try, she may as well. His grey eyes met her wide blue eyes and he engulfed her in a hug that she hadn't even realized she needed. They stayed like that for a few minutes, when she felt him starting to kiss her neck. Hermione turned to look at him and she didn't know who started it, but suddenly their lips met. She was a little shocked at first, but responded to him. Her arms snaked around his neck as she tried to pull him closer to her scared that this could all be a dream. His tongue met hers and she almost moaned at the contact. He grabbed her legs and lifted them so they could wrap around his waist. Feeling like if they let this moment go it would be the last they would have, they stayed like that for ages losing track of time.
Hermione pulled away from him gently and looked deep into his eyes trying to see how he felt. That was the problem with Draco's eyes, you could never tell exactly what was going on in his head.
"It's weird looking at you and seeing blue eyes. I'm going to have to get used to that," he smirked.
Hermione laughed, "Who said you were sticking around?"
He kissed her softly before saying, "I don't know. Call it a hunch. What are we going to do?"
"Hmm..." Hermione pondered, "Dating would be too fast and I love to kiss you too much to just be friends, so we're having dinner together on Friday. It's a date."
"Sounds perfect to me," he replied, "I forgive you by the way for everything."
"I forgive you too. We've wasted so much time fighting and hurting each other when we could've been together all this time. Emma will still annoy me, but I accept your apology," Hermione told him.
Hermione looked down at her watch and cursed, "We've missed the morning classes with all of the dramatics. We should head down to lunch before we miss that too."
"Okay, let's go," Draco said as they both walked out of the common room feeling happier than they had felt in awhile.
They walked to the Great Hall side by side laughing with each other and smiling. They didn't have this in mind when they had been fighting earlier. It felt like they had jumped over this huge obstacle and it felt like someone had taken a burden off of their shoulders. Hermione was happy because part of her also wanted to toss this in Emma's face. She wanted to prove that Emma didn't control or ruin her life and that karma would reward those who deserved it. Draco felt the need to prove himself as a better man and he didn't want Hermione dating anymore Weasley brothers. Joining an extremely awkward Blaise and Pansy, they sat down and filled them in on the news.
From afar, a man with emerald green eyes was careful contemplating a decision he had to make as he watched the four best friends laugh and talk about only god knows what.
So finally things are being revealed and the story is moving forward. I really want to hear your feedback for this chapter, because it was quite an important chapter and will help me determine where I'm going to be taking things. Draco and Hermione are finally moving forward and Emma has admitted why she hates Hermione so much. Is Emma going to be able to win Ron back after everything? What was Harry thinking about? Where are things going with Blaise and Pansy? What were your thoughts and reactions? Please give me your imput. Reviews actually make my day :).
I'm also thinking of writing a story based on Pansy. It'll start off as a Draco/Pansy story, but it'll end up being Blaise/Pansy as they are my favourite couple along with Draco/Hermione. Would you guys be interested? If so, I'll put a preview of the story at the end of the next chapter. Thank again for your patience :).