The rest of the night was like a blur. She could barely remember climbing off the train. She didnt hear anything said at dinner. She didnt notice who was sorted into what houses. She grasped the Head Girl badge tightly in her fingers, running her firm skin against the shiny smooth metal.
Everyone was dismissed. They all headed in a wave back to their common rooms. Hermione lingered and looked about her, taking in the last of the incredible smells from dinner. With a deep sigh she began to walk heavy-footed towards the Great Hall doors.
She avoided Malfoy as much as possible. His full-moon-on-water eyes were challenging everyones opinion and authority they thought they had. Hermione watched helplessly as he unjustly took away ten points from a Gryffindor student.
Hermione wanted to help, but she couldnt. This evening she just didnt have the energy. Tomorrow she would be fine. It was just the way things worked. She tugged on a handful of hair and closed her eyes quietly, wishing all of it to go away. She knew she was not fulfilling her responsibilities but at the moment she did not care. She just wanted to go to bed and sleep it all away.
"Granger?" a rather cool voice said. Just hearing his voice felt like a melting ice cube was sliding down her back. She pried her eyes open and saw Malfoy standing there, looking smug. He seemed to be hiding something beneath those cold eyes. Something that felt just the tiniest bit warm.
"What, Malfoy?" she asked as she tried to keep the bitterness and the revulsion to a minimum, heading McGonagall warning. At the moment she just felt like beating the living day lights out of the boy so she wouldnt have to deal with the responsibility of Head Girl or share a common room with the creature. She knew she would regret giving it up the next morning, so she clenched her fists at her sides and watched him warily.
"We need to go to our dormitories," he growled. She could see the physical strain he was under while refraining from calling her mud blood and insulting her in any other way. She couldnt help but feel a bit better at the thought of his being civil to her.
She simply nodded and stood, straightening her pleaded skirt and brushing out the wrinkles from her blouse. She smoothed down her bushy hair and straightened up.
"What are you doing?" Malfoy asked critically as his eyes looked her up and down. Hermione grimaced at the thought of his eyes on her.
"Im making myself presentable," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. Malfoy rolled his eyes and did not ask whom she was making herself presentable for. Instead, consciously or subconsciously, he also smoothed down his hair and straightened his robes very subtly. Of course Hermione noticed. She just had a tendency to notice little things like that.
"Do you remember the password?"he asked. She nodded.
"Charlatan," she said simply as they slowly approached it. The two of them knew exactly where the Head Boy/Girl dormitories were. They had both been striving for this position for their past six years at school. Of course they were going to approach the entrance and look at it longingly, fantasizing about the day they were given the privilege to step through the portrait.
"I am not a charlatan," he murmured under his breath and kicked at the floor, leaving a black scuff mark. Hermione watched him, noticing the strain in his face and how he continued to mumble things under his breath. Being in her presence and holding his tongue was proving to be quite difficult for him.
She held her tongue and also said nothing as they approached the portrait.
It was of a very refined man. Hermione had never introduced herself and thought it appropriate. He looked like a middle-aged man with an elegant nose and a very muscular figure. It was of his chest up and he had hair swept back, much resembling Draco's despite the fact that his was a brown color. He had warm brown eyes and a bright smile. Hermione liked the man instantly.
"Hello, sir, my name is Hermione Granger," she introduced herself with a kind smile. He looked at her and grinned appropriately.
"Hello, Miss Granger. My name is Sir Paul Bentley," he said as he craned his head in a modest boy. Malfoy sneered at the portrait and snapped his name. Sir Bentley looked rather coldly at the boy and squinted. Malfoy hissed the password and he climbed inside quickly, disappearing into the dark. Sir Bentley closed and then looked at Hermione cautiously.
"Are you going to be alright in there with THAT boy?" he asked, obviously not particularly caring for Malfoy. Hermione smiled at the fact that the portrait cared to ask and felt her warming up to the man forever trapped in pictures. She thought he must be dreadfully lonely. She would befriend him and at least they would have company while being lonesome.
"I'll be fine, Sir Bentley. Good night," she said and then whispered the password as she climbed through the portrait hole. She fumbled through the dark entrance momentarily before she came into a brightly lit common room. She smiled, for it was everything she had always imagined.
Lush couches and armchairs surrounded the comfort of a large, warming fire. There were no colors representing either Slytherin or Gryffindor and Hermione was thankful for it. She did not need to be competing with Malfoy as to who showed the most House Spirit. She knew that Malfoy would have gotten ridiculous and gone all out, leaving her standing in the dust.
She walked in and sat down on the couch, staring into the fire. With a sigh she decided that it was comforting here and she didnt feel the need to go to the Gryffindor tower very often if ever. She enjoyed the privacy. She enjoyed being alone.
Malfoy stalked out, his hair as smug as ever.
"Well we get out own bathrooms thank god," he said. Hermione shot him a warning glare and he rolled his eyes. "I mean because youre a GIRL, not because you're...something else. Girls are ALWAYS in the bathroom and they always have so much stuff to muddy up the counters," he sighed and plopped down in the armchair. He looked her up and down.
"What are you looking at?" Hermione asked icily but quietly, neither yelling nor whispering. Malfoy leaned in and furrowed his eyebrows. The fire danced incredibly in his silver blue eyes and the shadows cast on his skin were haunting and mysterious. Hermione almost saw depth in the boy, but she was over that misconception quite quickly.
"I was looking at you, Granger. What exactly is wrong with you?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously. Hermione felt the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stand up on end. Why was he so relentless? Couldn't he just let her live her days in peace?
"Your constant interrogation is what is wrong with me," she said to him coolly and adverted her eyes. He rolled his eyes and threw up his hands.
"Here I am trying to be civil to you and youre just being a god awful b..."
"Draco Malfoy, are you positive you want to finish that sentence?" Hermione dared him with her eyes. He bit his lip and then made an angry sort of cry and stomped his foot before turning around quickly and rushing into his bedroom, slamming the door like an immature brat.
Hermione rolled her eyes at the boys temper. She hadnt done a single thing wrong. He shouldnt blame her for not wanting to be his friend and spill every one of her dark secrets to him after all the years of torture he put her through.
She walked to her dormitory and found all of her things resting at the end of her bed. Slowly, she began to unpack. Carefully she set down her spare robes, her textbooks, and other things. She closed her eyes and sighed. She couldnt wait for sleep to overcome her, but for some reason she couldnt help but feel guilty for the way she treated Malfoy.
Guilty? Why should she feel guilty about treating him the way he deserved to be treated? She was just being silly.
Yet she knew that she could not be able to sleep peacefully until she apologized to him. It was already awkward enough without her adding to it.
So she quietly set down her things and headed out of her room. She walked across the Common Room quietly and to the door. She took a shaky breath and knocked on the door. She instantly regretted it, realizing she had no idea what to say.
The door cracked open just slightly.
"What?" he asked in the same cold and relentlessly repulsed manner she had spoken to him in.
"I wanted to apologize for the way I've acted. I've just had a rough week," she said quietly. The door opened the rest of the way and he stood there, studying her face with his eyes.
Hermione noticed something was off about Draco the moment that he stepped out of the door. At first she couldnt see what until her eyes traveled downward
He was wearing nothing but a baggy pair of pants that hung low on his hips. He had been preparing for bed when she interrupted him.
She pried her eyes away from his bare chest and glued her eyes to his own. It took all of her might not to stare at him and take note of every curve of his muscles and the precise skin tone of his delicious looking skin...
Hermione growled deep in her throat. These were the most embarrassing things she had ever thought. She had to admit that Malfoy did have good looks. Then again, if looks were based on personality, a Mountain Troll would be sexier than this... slithering...disgusting... evil... ferret.
"I just wanted to know what was wrong." He looked her up and down again. "Granger you look like hell. Go to the nurse and get some medication or something," he replied heavily and shut the door in her face. br
She withdrew and slowly trudged back to her room to continue to unpack. She pulled out a small bag and opened it carefully.
She quietly pulled out a bottle of medication, rattling with pills inside. She took a deep breath.
"If only you knew," she said quietly and set the pills down on her nightstand, before drawing another bottle from her bag. Then another... and another... and another... and another.
She lay down on her bed and curled up, falling into a peaceful and dreamless sleep, still wearing clothes from the afternoon.
She was right when she first stepped on the train that morning.
Hogwarts was hell.