A/N: Thank you so so much for the feedback on the last chapter! So I guess we're in the home-stretch now... I don't know whether to be happy or sad about that...
Happy reading!
A Deduction
Hermione's eyes felt heavy and sore as she opened them on Boxing Day morning. She had barely slept a wink, with so many memories of the Ball taunting her repeatedly throughout the night. There were moments when she began to drift into a light sleep as the dizziness and blissful recollection of her first kiss came to the forefront of her thoughts. It had been perfect in every way, which only made it all the more devastating when the memory played on, and she relived the shock of Draco leaving her there, jolting her wide awake again.
It seemed to bother her more that they'd had an audience to witness the entire thing. Of course she still would have been equally upset, hurt and angry if it had happened where there was no one else around, but now Hermione felt as if her integrity and pride had been stripped away, because she knew how quickly gossip spread around the castle. Everybody would know what happened soon enough, and Hermione would be forced to deal with something she usually did everything in her power to avoid. Embarrassment.
She always played safe to achieve this. She never rode a broom again after their first flying lesson. She hated the feeling of the staring children and secret whispers that were directed at her, and somehow she just knew that she would have to relive that as soon as she left the dormitory. She had pretty much betrayed her whole House by going to the Ball with a Slytherin and preached to Harry about how different Draco seemed, only to be left out on a limb in the middle of the dance floor after her first kiss.
She had taken a gamble for the first time in her life on him, and now she felt like a fool, not only for that but also for failing to figure out what had been going on with the Slytherins this entire time right under her nose. There had clearly been a great deal of manipulations and lies leading up to that moment last night, but for what purpose? Hermione easily worked out that Daphne and Draco had to be the centre of it all; it couldn't just be coincidence that they just so happened to be the only two Slytherins taking Gryffindors to the Ball, and Daphne had exclaimed that she had 'won' as soon as Draco had walked away.
She didn't, however, know where Pansy came into this, nor did she know exactly what it was that Daphne had 'won'. Hermione groaned; in order to get answers, she would have to get out of bed and put herself into the public eye. Great.
Attempting to delay the inevitable even more, she rolled over in bed to try and gather her thoughts. She looked down at the floor, where the broken barrette lay amongst a sea of small crystals and chipped pieces of blue metal. It looked like a fallen star constellation against the dark wood floorboards. Her heart contracted, and a lump formed in Hermione's throat. She wanted to cry and scream at the same time.
She tore her gaze away and shifted to lie on her back, looking up at the ceiling. The longer she lay there, the more she started to doubt her own sense of judgement. There were times when Draco's words and actions had been so damn genuine that she had questioned how much of a bad person he truly was. Hell, even Ginny seemed to have been taken in by his act, if it was an act, that is.
Whatever the case, Hermione now had to live with the fact that Draco had affected her. She had grown to understand him. She had feelings for him. But how could she when he was involved with some elaborate scheme with Daphne? There was no way he could have ever felt the same about her if he insisted on following the plot through to the end.
But he tried to kiss me at the Three Broomsticks, and afterwards he said so many things. Just a couple of days ago he told me he had no ulterior motive for that.
'I don't bloody deserve you!"
Hermione mentally kicked herself: firstly for being sympathetic of him and inadvertently letting him get away with what he did, and secondly for not jumping at the chance to ask him if he had said that when the opportunity presented itself. Maybe if she knew then she would be able to guess exactly how sincerely involved he had been into whatever had been going on.
But as long as there was doubt in her mind about whether Draco said that or not, she wasn't going to let her heart overrule her head this time. She wouldn't let her damaged feelings feed into her own self-pity; instead it was all building up to a ball of anger and fire in her stomach.
She threw off the bed covers decisively and headed for the dormitory door. She needed answers.
Draco's eyes fluttered open after a restless night, and before his thoughts caught up to anything else he was hit with an uncomfortable twisting sensation in his heart and stomach; something that sleep had made him forget about and something he hadn't felt since last night.
But for some reason, it felt so much more intense and real than it had done before. He was suddenly overcome with a denial-induced rage.
Draco slunk out into the common room and started pacing frantically. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Daphne walk into the room a minute or two later.
"Sup, Malfoy, can't handle the fact that that bet was yours for the taking and you lost…to a girl?" she baited, feeling decidedly relieved and smug this morning.
"Shut up." Draco's voice was low, dangerous and a little fragile at the same time.
"All right all right, I'll save the gloating… for now. So tell me, why the hell did you run off like that? Was Granger really that bad a kisser?"
Draco didn't answer, so Daphne switched tactic.
"If you were going to throw a hissy fit about kissing her then why'd you do it? You could have just pushed her away when she leant in."
"It happened too quickly."
Daphne scoffed, "Still didn't have to kiss her back though, did you?"
Draco grinded his teeth and didn't reply. He really wasn't in the right frame of mind to be bombarded with questions. In that moment he couldn't even rationalise what he'd done. All he could think about was how badly Hermione must be hurting now and his heart ached at the thought. Everything was so scary and real and Draco felt exposed and vulnerable, though he didn't know why.
"Or maybe you liked it." Daphne laughed as she saw Draco's eyes flare momentarily. "You bloody liked kissing the Mudblood didn't you?"
"It didn't mean anything," Draco said slowly. He was staring hard at the floor lest he look at Daphne and let on how contorted his face was with a torrent of denial, confusion, anger, and sadness all swirled together around his body and mind.
"Ha. Are you saying that to me or yourself, Malfoy?" Daphne continued, completely oblivious to the bubbling rage rising in Draco.
"IT DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING, ALRIGHT?!" Draco roared. He advanced towards Daphne threateningly and the smile fell from her face. She had never known him to get so provoked so easily, and even when he lost his temper in the past, he had never exploded in the way he did just then.
She frowned. "Malfoy, what's going on with you?"
"NOTHING. I'm fine."
"Yeah and I'm the bloody Princess of Unicorn Fairies," Daphne rolled her eyes. "Come on, you're clearly feeling bad about leaving Granger standing there like an idiot. You said so yourself that the bet was messing with your head so just admit it. You as good as told me yesterday that -"
"I don't feel ANYTHING for her." He said slowly, defiantly before she could finish.
Daphne frowned, "But Malfoy, yesterday you said-"
"TO HELL WITH WHAT I SAID YESTERDAY!" He shouted. "THAT WAS DIFFERENT!"
"How?!" Daphne asked exasperatedly.
"It just is! And what about you, anyway? Why aren't you feeling like this? Because I remember what you said to me yesterday about Potter."
The cogs in the witch's head started turning. Aside from the obvious, what was so different about yesterday that was making Draco act so differently? He had been so calm and dare she think it, sincere when he spoke about Granger less the twenty-four hours ago.
"Tell me, how is it I'm supposed to be feeling, Draco?"
He hesitated before responding, and a nervous, calculating shadow passed through his eyes.
"All of that shit I said to you… it makes no bloody sense when I think about it now. It feels too real. Too complicated."
"What does?!" Merlin even when Draco was being open he was bloody difficult to communicate with.
"EVERYTHING!" He had no idea to explain this when he didn't even know what it all meant. "So why don't you understand? You should feel this way too, about Potter…"
Something finally clicked in Daphne's head.
"I think I know why I don't feel like you do."
"Tell me." Draco said. He seemed calmer now, but still very tense.
She took a deep breath. "Because… because yesterday at the Ball, I realised that I don't actually have feelings for Potter like I told you I might."
"So?" he demanded.
"So, that's what's different. You have feelings for Granger and this is how any of us Slytherins would react if we were in your position. You must feel conflicted in your head because of all of the prejudices you were brought up with. Part of you must feel like you're betraying your parents, and even yourself to some extent."
"Care to explain why I've been sailing through these past couple of weeks just fine then?"
Daphne sighed. "I'm not bloody sorting your life out for you. Figure it out yourself." She turned to walk away but turned back when she realised that he had helped her yesterday with her Potter-dilemma. She owed him at least one favour. It was a totally Hufflepuff move but Daphne couldn't deny that she was starting to feel sorry for Draco.
"But if I were to hazard a guess… I'd say it's very likely that you've been comfortable and accepting of your feelings until now because the bet was in place. If anybody questioned your actions towards Granger you wouldn't think twice about being honest with your answer because the bet required you to interact with her and befriend her. You could blame everything on the bet, but now that it's over, you don't have that security. I think everything seems so much more real now because it is more real. This is all you, Malfoy, and you can't accept that the friendship, the truce, maybe even the kiss still seems genuine now when you aren't required to pretend otherwise. Without the bet you just feel like you two are just, taboo I suppose: Gryffindor and Slytherin, Muggleborn and Pureblood."
A moment of clarity and realisation softened Draco's features, but the hard exterior returned just as quickly as it had disappeared.
"You know what, this is all of YOUR bloody fault, Greengrass." He spat.
Daphne's eyebrows shot up. "See, this proves my point. You can't keep blaming other people for this! Just grow a pair and admit that-"
"NO!" he yelled over her. "I feel the blame is justified. You're the one who involved me in this bet in the first place. This never would have happened if you'd kept your mouth shut and just left me alone. You made this mess, so why am I the one being punished for it?"
"Well, I never forced you to agree to it." She said coldly.
That did it. Draco growled in frustration and barged past her.
"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" He shouted behind his shoulder as he headed towards the common room door.
"Running away isn't going to solve anything, you know!" Daphne shot back.
"PISS OFF!" The door opened and slammed shut, and he was gone.
Outside, Draco felt all of the anger and denial drain out of him when he realised that Daphne was right. He was on his own now, responsible for his own feelings with no bet to lay the blame on.
He never would have imagined that having the security of the bet there would have led him to delude his own mind. He felt like he had to learn to accept his feelings all over again, and he didn't know if he could cope with that now, not when it seemed so wrong all of a sudden.
Whatever these feelings turned out to be, Draco wouldn't admit to having them freely now that he had to deal with the fact that all of his future actions would be under his own steam; he'd be more reserved than he had been as of late when it came to Hermione. He couldn't afford to be as reckless as he had been when he hugged her on the balcony in prime view of everyone.
She deserved someone better than him; someone who would protect her instead of hurt her. That's all he seemed to be good at.
A plan slithered its way into Draco's thoughts. It was a foolproof way of making Hermione move on from him. He just didn't know if he was prepared for the repercussions of it.
The sound of post-Christmas merriment and happy chatter drifted to Hermione's ears as she reached the door that lead into the common room. She lifted her chin, readying herself for whatever reaction was waiting for her.
She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Maybe it was just her paranoia but she could swear that the noise level dropped significantly as she stepped into the room. She put on an indifferent façade and scoped out Harry and Ron as quickly as she could. They were at the far-end of the room playing Wizard's Chess, with Ginny sitting beside Harry and watching on.
She made her way over, doing her best not to look anyone in the eye, but Lavender Brown stepped in front of her.
"Merlin Hermione, are you okay? No offence, but you look like hell."
"Yes I'm perfectly aware of what I look like, Lavender," she said curtly, "now if you'll excuse me-"
Hermione tried to side step around the other girl but she blocked her way again.
"Have you been crying?" she questioned loudly. Hermione's fists clenched but she managed to keep them firmly by her sides. As if enough people weren't staring anyway and now Lavender seemed to be making it her mission to make her look like a total idiot.
"No." Hermione lied, knowing that if she admitted it then she'd never escape Lavender. She wasn't blind to the amount of exchanged whispers that were shared in her denial.
Lavender frowned. "Are you sure, because to me it looks like –?"
"You know, I don't have time to talk, Lavender," she said, pushing around the other witch and marching over to where Harry, Ron and Ginny were sat.
"Well excuse me for trying to be nice!" Lavender sneered after her but Hermione didn't give her the satisfaction of turning back.
She was trembling when she reached her friends, though she was unable to pinpoint which emotion caused it.
"Don't pay any attention to her," Ginny shot a scathing look at the blonde witch, "I would've come to your rescue but I haven't seen you since before… you know it happened," she lowered her voice so only their small group could hear, "None of us have, so we didn't really know how you'd want to approach things."
"It's okay, Gin. I understand. But I'm not exactly in the mood for having to explain myself to every bloody person in the school if you get my drift."
"Completely." Ginny said.
There was a moment of silence, and Hermione could tell that all of her friends were dying to ask her questions or put forth their opinions on the matter. She also knew that none of them dared to do so for fear of her reaction. For some reason, all of their pussyfooting around made her even more annoyed. She rolled her eyes.
"You lot are so transparent, but to be blunt I'd appreciate it if you'd stop looking at me like I'm about to break or burst into tears at any moment."
The three other Gryffindors exchanged sceptical glances at her clipped tone. Ron was the one to speak first.
"Well no offence Mione, but you do kind of look like you're going to cry," he said tentatively.
Hermione stared at him hard for a moment but suddenly she felt her anger start to dissolve and she was overcome with the urge to do just that by the mere suggestion of it. It was funny how that worked; kind of like the countless times she had remained together and composed until someone gave her a hug, and then the floodgates were almost impossible to keep closed.
She could feel the tears in her eyes pooling up, threatening to spill over at any moment. She needed to get out of the common room to save face in front of the students in Gryffindor Tower, a lesser motive that closely followed the primary one which was a complacent refusal to be seen crying in public over Draco Malfoy.
She only had enough composure in her voice to choke out one sentence. "Harry, come with me please." She turned and left the room without waiting for a response or acknowledgement of her request.
Hermione felt bad for the others, especially when she heard Ron mumble something like "Did I say something to upset her?" but the fact was that Harry was the only one out of the three who could help her get some answers.
He emerged from the portrait-hole shortly after she had done and the two of them set off down the staircase. Hermione had no set destination in mind but aimless walking seemed adequate enough since there were still fewer students around than usual.
"I mean it Harry, I've had enough of bloody scheming, lying, two-faced arseholes so I'd appreciate it if you'd just come straight out with whatever you have to say," Hermione said bluntly as they reached the second floor and neither of them had yet to say a word.
Harry, whose first thought had been to point out that she should speak first since she invited him along, bit back this response as a more pressing topic had presented itself; one that wouldn't lead to Hermione biting his head off for giving her sass; it was a win-win.
"What do you mean by 'scheming and lying'?"
"Honestly Harry, you were there! You must have heard what Daphne said."
"What, that stuff about winning? What's that to do with Malfoy, and how do you know he's been scheming and lying, and what about?"
Hermione turned to look at him with raised eyebrows, "Really Harry, you can shed no light onto this whatsoever? I only asked you to come because I figured Daphne might've let slip some telling information so we can find the answers together."
"Sorry," Harry said sheepishly.
Hermione's shoulders slumped, "No I'm sorry. None of this is your fault. It's just so confusing."
"Okay, well how about we go and find a place to sit and you can explain about this scheme or plot the Slytherins have been carrying out?"
Hermione nodded and without thinking lead her friend to the bank by the lake where she and Draco had talked the other day. She didn't even realise until she had sat down in the same spot, and tears started to well up in her eyes again.
She took several deep breaths to calm herself down and gather her thoughts, and then she proceeded to tell Harry everything she had worked out about the night she walked in on Pansy and Viktor in the library; how she deduced that Draco was part of it and reminding him of all of their strange behaviour before those moments. She told him in more detail about the day in the Three Broomsticks, the barrette and their conversation on Christmas Eve, and by the end of it she was ready to hex the next person she saw with the fresh build up of anger and confusion that pulsed through her veins.
"Hell, you were watching, you would have seen how rapid the change in Draco's whole demeanour seemed before, during and after the kiss!"
"Er yeah, I wasn't particularly watching in the 'during' part but I did see how abrupt it all was. I don't really know anything more than what you know as far as the whole scheming goes; you can only really ask Malfoy for that."
Hermione sighed in disappointment. "So you didn't think to question Daphne after she said that stuff?"
"Of course I did, but she made a swift exit whilst I was distracted trying to stop you from leaving."
She bit her lip and started pulling up fistfuls of grass in agitation. "Harry be honest with me, do you think I was a complete idiot for trusting him so much?"
Harry hesitated before responding. It was always questionable territory whenever Hermione told him to be honest with her. Sometimes she thrived off his opinion and used it to her advantage, but other times she wasn't mentally prepared enough for what he had to say, and often became defensive. But in this instance, Harry knew he had to comply, as she was feeling very betrayed and hurt right now.
"As much as it pains me to say it, I'm in two minds about that. On the one hand, you know how I've never liked Malfoy and never really trusted him; these last couple of weeks have been no exception. If you want an outsider's opinion looking in on how Malfoy was with you at the start of the Ball, Ron and I were more than convinced he had you under some kind of spell."
"Why do you say that?" Hermione asked.
"Just because of how he was with you," Harry repeated weakly, not knowing how to explain. "He was being his usual arse-y self before you arrived, and then when you two were dancing it was like he was a completely different person. He looked relaxed and…happy. Looking back on it it's pretty easy to assume that he was putting on a show for whatever he and Daphne were up to, but it was the kind of happiness no-one can fake. It was real. Then Ron and I see him outside the bathroom and he morphed back into the same old prat."
"Oh Godric Harry I'm going around in bloody circles here. Please tell me something that will actually help me make up my mind about how I should be feeling about this. I bloody hate his guts right now, but every so often a thought like that pops into my head and I start to question his involvement in whatever this was."
Harry paused again before responding. "I'm going to begrudgingly admit that Malfoy does have some degree of affection for you. I think he's a conniving bastard for putting you through all of this, but as much as I want to be biased, I don't know details about how much deceit was involved or of the actual scheme. For all we know, he had never intended you to get hurt, or maybe he didn't even care at the time. But that doesn't excuse the fact that he didn't back out of it, and even his so-called 'feelings' are questionable because of that.
I feel very protective of you, so I'd feel very wary about you giving him another chance; he just seems to keep hurting you and you deserve better than that. I would never think you of as an idiot in terms of all of this since I ended up getting sucked in by Daphne too."
"So what you really mean by that is that you don't want to call yourself an idiot," Hermione said with a brief smile.
"You got me," Harry grinned in return, but their happiness was short-lived as the disembodied sentence returned to Hermione's thoughts.
"I feel guilty about what you said because I don't bloody deserve you!"
That seemed to be the consensus with everyone so far; Hermione included. She knew that Draco had the capacity to be cruel and spineless, but over the last few days she was almost convinced he had said that. Now that she had knowledge of the web of lies that had been spun, maybe the words indicated that he wanted to back out but perhaps couldn't.
She shook the thoughts away. At this rate she was going to dig herself a deeper hole by assuming he said that with no proof. She had to stick to her guns with what she knew.
"See this is another reason I didn't ask Ron to come along," Hermione said, "As much as I love him he never would have been able to disregard his feelings towards Draco to try and be honest with me like you did."
Before Harry could reply, the sound of crunching grass underfoot alerted the two Gryffindors, and they both spun around on the spot to see Draco stood a few feet away. Harry couldn't help but smirk. Maybe the Muggle saying was true: 'speak of the devil and he shall appear.'
"Here's your chance to get some answers," He muttered to Hermione, never once taking his scathing eyes off the blond.
"I will," Hermione said. She stood up and faced Draco, all of a sudden overcome with every single emotion she had felt the night before, almost as if the last ten minutes of the Ball was repeating itself.
"Well isn't this cosy?" Draco drawled with a roll of his eyes. He sneered at her and Harry, and Hermione's heart thumped uneasily. She had a bad feeling of what was happening. Tears began to prick her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. If anything Draco's cold manner was adding more fuel to her fire.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked the Slytherin.
Draco's narrowed eyes scrutinised Harry before flicking back onto Hermione again. He smirked in amusement, but his expression was cold.
"Got yourself a bodyguard, have you? Need the great Boy Wonder to protect you?"
"I can fight my own battles," Hermione said. Her right hand hovered over the pocket of her jeans where her wand was stored. "So, what are you doing here?"
"Not looking for you if that's what your deluded over-sized head has driven you to think," Draco said apathetically, "I just came for a walk, but apparently my spot has been stolen."
"Your spot?!" Hermione's voice was rising now. "I think you'll find this is my spot, where you found me on Christmas Eve."
If Hermione's vision hadn't been so compromised by anger and unshed tears, she may have seen Draco's mask crack at the reference to that day. He recovered quickly enough.
"And I was considerate enough to not make a comment about it being my spot then," he replied coolly. Hermione tensed with rage, which was quite strange. If they were having this 'spot' debate on any other day, it would be harmless banter that they usually engaged in. But today, it was provoking and unfriendly.
"You want to talk to me about being considerate? Ha. You don't know the bloody meaning of the word," she spat. "A considerate person wouldn't have manipulated me for some stupid little game or competition that they were taking part in, and a considerate person certainly wouldn't have left me alone on the dance floor after having my first kiss with them with no sodding warning. They wouldn't have betrayed my trust like that."
Something in her outburst made Draco's frown lesson slightly. "How did you know-?"
"About what you Slytherins were up to? That's hardly the point right now! But whilst we're on the subject how about you fill me in on the details?"
"Now why would I do that?" Draco asked somewhat mockingly. "You're the smart one. Figure it out."
"What the hell do you think I've been trying to do since last night?!" Hermione shouted. It felt good to finally release her fury this way. "Oh and I'll have you know that I worked out that you, Pansy and Daphne managed to manipulate me into agreeing to go to the Ball with you by getting Viktor out of the picture. Now tell me the rest!"
Draco scoffed arrogantly, "Actually, I don't think –"
"TELL ME!" Hermione's hand was clasped around her wand at that point and without meaning to, she sent some unknown curse at the nearest tree, which abruptly had the bark shredded from it with loud cracks.
Hermione immediately released her wand out of shock of what she had done. It fell back into her pocket and she remained planted to the spot, breathing hard and staring at Draco, waiting.
The look on her face made Draco flinch and hesitate before he worked up the nerve to respond. Everything about her demeanour seemed angry; seemed to emanate hatred. But of course, her eyes betrayed her, and Draco wasn't blind to the vulnerability and the hurt within them. She seemed to despise herself as much as she despised him for being unable to forget about whatever feelings she may still have, whilst he hated the fact that it had to come to this.
"Would you like me to be blunt, Granger?" He asked. Her surname didn't feel right rolling off his tongue; it was so informal and distant, but a necessity so he wouldn't lose face.
Hermione winced at how he addressed her. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you. Just don't withhold any information about what you've been up to."
Draco forced himself to stare her in the eye. He smiled unpleasantly at her. "My pleasure." He drawled.
Harry didn't like the sly grin he had. He glanced sideways at Hermione with worry in his eyes. He didn't think she was prepared for this, to her everything so soon, but she was stubborn. There was nothing he could say to change her mind. In some ways, even Harry didn't think he wanted to hear this. Despite how things had played out with Daphne he couldn't deny that he had grown a soft spot for her. He enjoyed her company, so he didn't much fancy hearing how she'd taken him for a fool.
Draco took a deep breath. The wording and how he explained this was everything.
"Well a couple of weeks ago, Greengrass and I became involved in a bet of sorts. In order to win, I had to ask you to the Yule Ball and have you willingly agree to it," he began counting out the requirements on his fingers. "I also had to follow through and actually take you to the Ball, and thirdly I had to stay with you for the whole duration."
"What was in it for you both if you won or lost?" Hermione asked.
"That's hardly relevant," Draco scoffed, "and I'd appreciate it if you'd keep your mouth shut until I've finished."
Hermione's eyes flared. She couldn't help but protest. "It's relevant to me. I deserve to know what was worth putting me through all of this!"
Draco swallowed hard and channelled all of the hatred and rivalry he'd felt for Hermione over the last few years to make his response as believable as possible.
"It amuses me that you believe that I give a damn how it's affecting you."
Hermione bit her lip. Maybe she was reading too much into what he said but she really didn't like the fact that he used the present tense; as in, he still didn't care, and never had done.
"But you ki-"
"No. You kissed me yesterday."
Hermione lifted her chin and looked him dead in the eye. "You kissed me back, though."
Draco took a few steps closer towards her so their faces were almost touching. "And why do you think I left you straight after? I'd just impulsively kissed a Mudblood. I had to go and wash my mouth out. No bet was worth keeping your filthy germs for two seconds let alone five minutes."
Hermione flinched and a flashback of the night before hit her. She remembered the angry, disgusted expression on his face, his harsh glare, how he recoiled from her and kept saying 'No' over and over…
Without even knowing what she was doing she drew back her clenched fist and punched Draco hard. She was shaking so her aim was a little off; she missed his nose and ended up striking his right cheek just under his eye with a satisfying crack. She immediately felt a sharp stinging sensation shoot up her arm; dammit why were his cheekbones so damn pointy?
Draco staggered back cupping his hand over his cheek. His eyes met hers again. Hermione expected them to be icy and cruel; perhaps even more so than before after what she had just done, but to her surprise they weren't. Her punch seemed to have drained the fight from him. She watched as his gaze moved downwards to her hand. Out of curiosity, Hermione looked down too and saw that her knuckles were bleeding slightly.
"So I'm a filthy Mudblood, hm?" she asked him, bringing her arm up to give him a better look at her hand, which was peppered with red dots.
His eyes widened and he looked as if he was going to say something but she cut him off.
"You're so bloody pathetic if you ever believed that foul name had a literal meaning." With that, Hermione barged past him and stalked off towards the castle. She didn't need to hear the rest of his story about the bet; the requirements of it alone told her that everything had been a lie; the truce, the apologies, the invitation, and apparently even the kiss yesterday.
With her back turned to him she finally released the tears she had been holding back for so long. Draco was just…the same old him again. Just like that. And she felt all of the dislike she hadn't felt for him for so long come rushing back. It was like the last couple of weeks never happened. If only it was just as easy to make her brain feel like that too.
Harry didn't say anything to Draco as he passed him. He just glared and smirked at the bruise that was already developing on his pale face before breaking into a jog to catch up with Hermione.
Her words, the punch, the faith she still had that he must care about her, it broke Draco's resolve. It broke his heart. And that was all he needed for the sense to be knocked back into his skull; the final thing to make him realise his feelings for her had been real all along. The close proximity they just shared made him realise what had been so different about her when she came out of the bathroom at the Ball. She had put lipstick on, and that suggested that she had been planning to kiss him, which made the previous altercation a whole lot worse.
He'd been stupid to think the bet would have made his feelings disappear, and even more stupid to think that pushing her further away would make it easier to deal with.
Pushing her away made it worse. Draco didn't want to hurt her anymore, so he resorted to doing that to coax her into moving on from him; find someone she did deserve. He knew this bet would be the death of him.
"Hermione, wait!" He yelled after her, but she was too far away now. The damage had been done, and she wouldn't hear him. She wouldn't believe him if she did hear him.
Knowing that he may have just pushed her too far this time was possibly just the thing that made his plan successful and make her move on… but Draco hated that. If anything, it suddenly made him want her back and to fix the mess he had created.
However impossible it seemed, he was determined to get back to where they were. A Slytherin did anything to achieve their ends. Draco's attempts today had, ironically, been selfless, but apparently that didn't work for him so the best way to fix this was to do what he did best, and be selfish.
His cheek really started to ache, so he began to head back up to the Hospital Wing. On the way over there his mind subconsciously began plotting ways he could make Hermione listen to him, let alone trust a word he said to her from now on, but all proved to be useless. He didn't know how, but she had figured stuff out about the bet, and her head was now filled with the false information that the kiss yesterday had meant nothing, when the reality was quite the opposite.
As he reached the castle's entrance, he suddenly remembered that since Daphne had won, he had to carry out his penalty for the bet to be officially over, and that penalty required him to make a public declaration to Hermione about how he felt…
He never thought he'd be happy about having to do that.
A minute earlier…
"Harry, did you hear that?" Hermione whipped her head around back to the lake.
"Hear what?"
"I thought I heard…"
"What, Mione?" Harry asked.
She sighed. "I thought I heard Draco calling after me; telling me to wait." Merlin how mad must she sound after all that had just been said and done?
"Err, sorry Mione but I didn't hear anything."
"Oh, must just be me imagining things then."
She and Harry continued walking for a while when a thought crossed her mind.
"Hey Harry?"
"Mm?"
"You were being completely honest with me before, weren't you?"
"Of course I was!" Harry exclaimed, sounding a bit offended.
"Sorry, Harry, I didn't mean it like that," Hermione explained, "it's just, some of it just doesn't add up with what some other stuff that was said."
"Like what?"
"Well you said that Draco was being different when he was with me; like he was really happy, and I remember the kiss and it certainly didn't feel like nothing; far from it, actually. And just now he said all that stuff about it being just on impulse and it didn't mean anything… the two accounts just don't go together."
"What are you trying to say, Hermione?" Harry asked wearily as they finally reached the warmth of the castle.
Hermione bit her lip. "I'm saying that because you were being honest with me about how happy he seemed, then maybe that means that Draco was…"
"What?"
"Lying." Hermione said. And with that deduction came a horde of new questions that needed to be answered.
To be continued…
A/N: So as you can probably guess, the penalty is coming up next :)
See you in a few days!