So Dramionie fans, I'm back! school has started so it may take a little longer to update. that and i got a new computer and that is a mess all on it's own, so be patient with me. :) i am so happy you guys are enjoying my stories1 thank you so much for the reviews. it means a lot that you guys take the time out to give me feedback. i greatly appreciate it.
now here's more story. tell me what you think. love it? hate it? favorite part? let me know!
~FlamingRose
Whispers. They're going to be the death of her. She hates how they talk about him. Sure, she used to think the same things about him, but now it was different. You could say she had seen the light, and she saw him differently now. There was no way he could be the monster people have been saying he is. She hates it so much. Then there are the whispers about her. She hates being known as That Granger Girl. She doesn't like it. It makes her cry in the middle of the night on those days she can't take it anymore. She hears it in the hallways, the classrooms, and the great hall. Sometimes she feels not even her dormitory will block them out. She shies away from them, and she hates them. She doesn't like them.
And neither does he. He doesn't like the way he hears the people in his house talk about her. He finds it disgusting. There would have been a time when he would join in, but now he can't. He was disgusted by their attitude. They didn't even know her. Not like he did. Yeah, this was hypocritical. Yeah, he did the same thing to everyone else, but she was different for reasons known only to him. He doesn't worry too much about the whispers about him. They had been around a lot longer than these new ones. He was used to it by now. Tough skin, a sarcastic drawling voice to bring about an apathetic disposition, a venomous insult, and a simple but effective hex was all he had needed for the last five years, and sixth year was not going to be any different. At least, he didn't think it was going to be.
It's only November, but it's starting to seem like she'd been at school so much longer. The days didn't used to drag on like this before. Especially for her. She loved school. What was wrong with her?
School drug on before, but for him it should have gone by slower. He prayed everyday for it to go slower. He was procrastinating as best he could. Yes, he had figured out the whole thing, he knew how to let the death eaters in and out. He understood. He was smart enough; he just didn't want to show it. Not if this was what it meant. Was this what it meant when people said a great mind could a achieve greatness? What kind of worthless no good person would settle for this? He was after all. He didn't like this. He had to get away.
He walked up the winding staircase to the owl tower. He couldn't wait until he got that fresh breeze that he had been longing for all day. He walked through the door and froze when he saw the scene in front of him. Oh why was it they always ran into each other when they wanted to be alone? If someone was trying to tell him something, he just wasn't buying it. He didn't want to be alone with her. They'd made a truce and now he was starting to feel things he didn't like feeling. Wasn't it enough to be at peace? Why did there have to be more? They're didn't have to be more. He just wanted there to be more. He watched her closely and saw there was something wrong. She looked broken. Broken like he had never seen her before.
"Hey," he said softly, "fancy seeing you here." She looked at him with clear eyes.
"I would have put a private sign on the doorway, but I haven't exactly mastered the transfiguration of owl droppings. Then again, I haven't really set my mind to trying," she said. He chuckled.
"I'm sure you could master anything you set your mind to," he said with a smile. Wait; was that just him giving Hermione Granger a compliment? This had to stop or the world was going to end. He could feel it. He stopped for an awkward second and remembered. Private car. Private sign. She wanted to be alone.
"I could go if you want to be alone," he said walking towards the exit.
"No," she said quickly standing up from her perch, "no, you can stay." He turned slowly towards her in confusion.
"Are you sure?" he asked her. She smiled softly with hints of a sad laugh in her voice.
"Yeah, I'm sure." He made his way slowly towards her keeping his eyes on her sad face.
"They're saying things, aren't they?" she said not looking at him but past him, past him towards the woods, past the woods to the first village, past it all, not really there on earth, but elsewhere.
"So you've heard it all too?" he said softly afraid to look at her so he looked down at his hands.
"Of course I have," she said bitterly, "its hard not to when every whisper tends to have some mention of your name, and they're such harsh whispers too."
"Yeah, life sucks like that," he said flatly.
"There's talk about you too," she said softly searching his face for answers to her unasked questions. As soon as she said it, she watched his features harden.
"Yeah?" he said looking out in the same way she had been.
"Yeah," she repeated.
"How much of it do you believe?" he asked.
"None of it," she said passionately, "absolutely none of it." he looked at her not quite sure he sensed the passion correctly or if it was a figment of his imagination. Was Hermione granger actually upset because of something she considered hurtful to him? He was having trouble grasping this concept. It was completely different from their normal bickering.
"That's sweet of you," he said softly, "but I'm afraid a lot of them are probably true. I'm not as good of a person as you are."
"So the rumors…"
"Are probably all true."
"And the talk about you being a….."
"Death eater? True."
"And the talk about the- the…."
"Mark? True." He said avoiding her eyes. He looked away from her, but it wasn't enough. The shame still reached all the way down to his toes. He got up and walked a little bit away from her. He couldn't breathe anymore. It hurt too much. He wished he couldn't breathe at all. Death would be welcome to take him out of this mortifying position.
She got up from her perch and walked towards his standing but slumped form. His regret and guilt was evident. Someone with a conscience this heavy couldn't be as evil and cold hearted as everyone had been telling her lately. She cautiously walked towards him like someone would towards an injured animal. She gently took his left hand and turned him around to face her. She softly guided his arm up towards her and placed her hand on his wrist. He watched her cautiously and curiously. She took hold of his shirtsleeve.
"May I?" she asked him gently. He had been honest with her up to this point, and she with him. Why should he keep this from her now? He nodded slightly. She slowly unbuttoned the cuff and slowly rolled up the sleeve to expose the cursed stain on his arm. She looked up at him with an unreadable expression. He looked away. He couldn't look at her. He couldn't meet her gaze he was so ashamed. She ran her index finger lightly over his forearm, tracing the lines of his mark. "Is this what you were hiding…"
"In the cabin the day you were being chased by the press? Yes. That's why I was so defensive about you looking at my arm." He said quickly and darkly. He didn't like to think about it.
He turned his head curiously watching her. She seemed completely unfazed that the sign of the man who must hate witches like her the most was the owner of such a mark. She wasn't. She just knew that a boy who cared enough for her unjustly wore this stain and was forced to carry too heavy a burden. She put her hands on his arm and bent his arm so that his hand was at his heart. She pressed her left hand against his. He couldn't bear to look at her. He felt like such a traitor. He hadn't felt this way before, or maybe he was trying to repress these feelings about his situation from the beginning and now they were all flooding in at the sign of a weakening in his defenses. He couldn't be sure, but he was sure that he didn't deserve to be touched in such a compassionate way by someone he may have to kill in the future. He felt a soft hand gently touch his cheek. It was her hand pulling him towards her and forcing him to look her in the eye. He felt like a monster, like a heartless monster.
"Draco," she said softly, "do you feel it?" he was perplexed, and his face said so.
"Feel what?" he asked her.
"Your heart. Do you feel your heart?" she asked him, "because I do." she didn't know what it was inside her that had inspired such courage to approach him in such an intimate manner. Maybe it was his honesty, maybe it was the sadness and tortured looks he had on his face, maybe it was the kindness he had shown her, but she felt she had to do something, and this just came so naturally.
He concentrated. He could feel it thumping against his chest, very much alive and feeling.
"You're not heartless Draco," she whispered to him, "you may be a wizard, but you are still human, with human emotions and a human heart." She looked deeply into his eyes, not letting him tear his gaze away.
"And I don't ever want you to forget that." He cracked a small smile.
"How is it you always know the right thing to say?"
"I could ask you the same question."
"I owe you Granger," he said, "but I don't know how I can repay you."
"When the time comes, do what you have to, but until then, call me Hermione." He nodded. So she wasn't naïve. She knew a time would come when they would have to choose sides.
"Okay, I will, Hermione," he said, the last word curling up into a smile. She smiled back at him. She moved his hand away from his heart and rolled the sleeve down over his forearm to hide the mark from view. She gave him a smile before she walked towards the door.
"Hermione," he called to her. My how he liked the feel of her name on his tongue.
"Wait," he said. She turned around and was found wrapped tightly in his arms within seconds.
"Thank you," he said as he nestled his nose in her hair. She nestled into his chest and inhaled happily as she wrapped her own arms around him.
"It's nothing really," she said, "anything for a friend." They pulled out of their warm embrace and he looked at her with an amused glint in his eye.
"So we're friends now?" he asked her.
"Yeah I guess so," she said smiling, "but you know, only in secret."
"But we still get to bicker in the hallways every once in a while right?" he asked, "Because I like that part." She laughed.
"Of course," she responded, "I wouldn't miss it for the world. I mean, how else am I going to have a conversation with you?"
"Friends then?" he asked as he held his hand out for her to shake. She smiled and gladly took it without hesitation.
"Friends."
don't forget to tell me your favorite part! :DD