Hello everyone. I am so sorry I am not able to post new chapters more often lately. I was really busy but here is another beautiful chapter if I say so myself. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. And also very sad because this is the second last chapter. I just want to thank all of you for following me and giving me beautiful reviews and bearing with me till the end. But I won't bore you with my lecture until the last chapter so here is chapter 17. Wait for the last chapter. And please please please do not forget to review. I really want to know your thoughts. please give me more reviews.

P.s J. K Rowling is awesome for creating all the lovely characters.

Chapter 17

Hermione was walking towards the library. It was fairly quiet corridor because it was Friday night and nobody would like to spend their Friday night in the library doing their homework. Nobody but Hermione Granger. She was planning to finish her homework before Saturday so that she can enjoy her holiday better but others don't need to know that. As she was walking she was thinking about things that had happened to her lately. She was thinking about Draco Malfoy.

Flash back

Hermione was sitting by the astronomy tower looking towards the lake. It was evening so the sun was about to set. She hears footstep coming towards the tower. She looks up to find Malfoy. She hides herself from him.

"I can smell you." Draco stated

"I didn't know you were a hound Malfoy." Hermione said coming out from her hiding spot.

He was leaning on the metal barrier of the balcony in the tower facing the lake. It seems like he was also there like her trying to watch the sun set or something else she couldn't put her finger on it.

"What are you doing here Malfoy? Are you following me?" she asked and for some reason she wanted to hear a positive answer.

Hearing her he lifts his head and turns to look at her. He walks slowly towards her and grabs her by her shoulder and brings her in front of the barrier making her face the lake.

"What do you think you are doing, MALFOY? Let me g…."

"SSSSHHHH…." He puts his index finger in front of her mouth and says "just for couple of minutes be quiet" he turns her around so that she can see the sun set. She was still within his arms and it looked like he was giving her a back hug. "You can talk as much as you like after sometime but not now because I am here to see the beautiful creation of God, so just watch the sun set and later I will leave you alone" he whispered. He was not looking at the sun set but her. Hermione didn't know that but she could feel his eyes behind her. His whisper gave her goose pimples.

Flash back ends

Thinking about that evening still gives her goose pimples and three weeks has already passed. Since then she has always been going to the astronomy tower to watch the sun set and also hoping to see him again but failed miserably. But she doesn't care. Why would she care? She asked him to stay away from her so he is staying away from her, she hoped. But lately she has been seeing him everywhere she goes. And it seemed like he is been flirting with her but that could be just her imagination.

As if on cue she feels him walking behind her. Her necklace that she had made during the beginning of the term is vibrating on her chest. She had taken the necklace off of her for some time but lately after coming back from her holiday she had put it on for the reason she knows nothing of.

He could be such an insufferable git. She thought. I told him not to come near me, to stay away from me but how dare he follow me. She thought about it and turns around to face him.

"Why are you following me Malfoy?" she ask putting her hands on her hips

Draco looks at her and wanted to smile because he found her very intriguing and beautiful at the moment. He wants to garb her by the shoulders and kiss her into oblivion, bring her into an empty classroom and make love to her. But he made no effort to show his feelings on his face. Not a single expression was shown on his face while looking at her. It seemed to her that he was just staring at her without thinking anything.

"Well?" she asks again

He has been watching her every move and he also knows about her necklace through Ginny. This was the reason why he wasn't meeting her when she was alone. But he was flirting with her with every chance he got and he was hundred percent sure that she was thinking about him before she felt him "following" her. Today he didn't care about the necklace so he decided to see her alone once again and make her think about him.

To make her mind confused he just walks passing her by and moves towards the library. Her eyes just followed his move. She starts fuming at him for not responding to her but she calms herself down and lets it go and starts to move towards the library following Draco. All of these things about him were confusing her too much. And also right now she is still thinking way too much about him and all the things that had happened around him so she didn't notice anything in front of her until she bumped into somebody's hard chest. She looked up to find a smirking Malfoy looking at her.

"Well, why are you following me, Granger?" he asked

Hermione was very disoriented by his question "What?"

"Well?" he put his both hands on his hips copying what she had done before.

"I wasn't following you, if you hadn't notice I was going to the library before you…." She didn't want to complete her sentence.

"Before I what, Hermione?" he asked in a whisper

She again felt goose pimples in her hands and her body. She looks at him in confusion and desire that she even forgot what she was doing.

"You didn't answer me." he said taking a step closer to her. She didn't want to be closer to him so she moved sideways but she forgot that her back was facing the wall.

"Well you didn't answer me, when I asked you question." she stated but now she was little nervous than before.

"What was the question again?" he takes another step again towards her. He took a longer step than before which made her back even further.

"I…I…umm…I… don't…don't… I don't like to repeat myself." She stuttered backing against the wall.

Realizing her mistake she was about to move when Draco put his both hands on the wall blocking her way out.

"Maybe I can teach you how to repeat." He said slowly staring into her brown eyes.

She might have seen longing in his beautiful greyish blue eyes but she could be wrong. She was way too nervous to react on his statement so she said "I…I… I have to go." And she pushed him away and ran away from him.

Draco stood there watching her run and smiled you are almost there Hermione Granger. He thought and stood there.

"She doesn't deserve you Draco. You should know that. What the hell is the matter with you?" asked Blaise

"Well what is the matter with you, Blaise? Are you gay? Do you like me or something? Because if you do I am sorry to disappoint you but I like girls." Draco said

Every day was the same with Blaise and his thinking. He had been trying to persuade Draco for making him not like Hermione and also trying his best to tell Hermione the plan her friends and his friends were making. But every time he found her alone Loony Lovegood would show up out of nowhere. It was making him mad but he wasn't going to give up until he succeeds.

"I am not gay and you very well know it. I am not saying not to like any girls, you can like anyone. I am just saying not to like Granger." Blaise stated

"Look, Blaise. We have gone through this a lot of time and I am sick and tired of your whining. I like Hermione Granger and that settles things. Even my parents are ok with it but why are you so bothered by it? Please, get a life and leave me alone." saying this Draco gets up and goes to his room.

"Why is he not listening to me? Why are you guys not listening to me? Help me explain this situation to him. This is all wrong." Blaise was saying this to Goyle and Nott when Pansy walked into their common room.

"Stop it Blaise. Seriously. We are all happy of the change, if you are not, good for you but let us be and let him be." Nott said.

"Is he still onto same thing?" Pansy asked

"Yes he is and now it's bloody annoying" said Goyle

"I will tell you what's annoying, Goyle" Blaise gritted his teeth and was about to punch Goyle when Pansy put a protection charm on him.

"Stop it Blaise. Or I have to complain you to Snape." she said and left Goyle and Nott left after her leaving an angry Blaise alone.

You guys have treated me very bad I am gonna make you all suffer. Blaise promised to make Draco pay for what he did and he also left the room.

"Hey, Ron, I have to ask you something" said Hermione

"Ya, what is it?" he asked

"Um… Have you noticed anything abnormal?" she asked

"When you say abnormal…?" he raised his eyebrow

"I am talking about Malfoy." she said

When she mentioned Malfoy, Ron shifted a little bit and looked at Harry and Ginny. They were sitting on the floor of their common room near the fire because of the cold February weather. They also heard her mention Malfoy and looked at a pale faced Ron who was also looking at them.

Nothing passes unnoticed from Hermione Granger

"Ok, what is going on?" she asked out of curiosity

Both the boys were running out of ideas to make Hermione believe their lies but they also knew that she cannot be fooled so Ginny took the lead.

"Nothing, actually, we were worried about you." She lied because she wanted Hermione to get distracted in another topic so that the boys wouldn't give away the plan that Draco had planned.

"Worried? About me? But why?" she asked

"Because you haven't mentioned Malfoy since Halloween and we were worried that you will be like that again. That's all. Are you ok?" she asked

She bought it "Ya I am fine. It's just that Malfoy has been acting weird around me lately. And sometimes I feel like he is flirting with me but maybe I am wrong. That is all I was trying to ask Ron before he freaked out." She said

All of them sighed with relief

"He is flirting with you, we hadn't noticed" Harry stated innocently

She smiled and everybody went back to what they were doing.

It was the same thing today and Hermione believed it would be same tomorrow because of the Valentine's Day on Monday. It was Saturday today and it was very quiet in the Great Hall or the corridors or the grounds because everybody, who happened to have boyfriend or a girlfriend, had gone to Hogsmead to get something especial to their other half. So it was Hermione and couple of Revanclaw in the library. She was about take her usual spot when she saw someone there. She believed she would have been surprised to find him there but she wasn't. Call it her curiosity or her courage she moved to her chair and without another glance at Draco she took out her homework and started working on it.

He had been waiting for her. He wanted to spend some quality time with her when he has the chance. He lifts his head from his book and looks at her.

"Hey" he greeted her. She ignores him. He smiles and speaks again "I was actually waiting for you if you want to know."

This took her by surprise. She had hoped that he was there for her but she wasn't expecting him to say it out loud and catch her off guard. She pulled herself together and asks "Why would I wanna know?"

He smiles and replies "Because you were curious enough to sit near me when there is no one around."

She looked around and indeed found no one around. She thought she had seen some students working but she can't see them anymore.

"If you are looking for some people then I have to tell you, they just left. And others are on the other side of the library so there is just you and me alone here. So what say, Granger, are you nervous now?"

"Wh…why… why would I be nervous of you?" she stutters

"Because I am very charming and you find me intriguing." He smirks

She stars at him open mouth. It was hard for her to hear someone praising himself without any shame. "Why do you think you are charming?" She asks unable to hold back the comment.

"I wasn't talking about myself. I was saying you find me charming. Because believe it or not I know you are thinking of me like that when you look at Me." he gets up and walks up to her and sits beside her. "You tell me to leave you alone but yet you seek me out." She was about to contradict that statement when he speaks again "I have been watching you, Hermione. I left you alone because it was your choice, not mine. But now I will have you know that one of these days I will make you mine and this time I won't let you go" then leans to her and kisses her.

She closes her eyes and let him manipulate her tongue because she had needed that for very long time. She would deny it to everybody and even herself but she knows she has always been in love with Draco Malfoy. But she also remembers what he had done to her, how he had broken her heart and left her into crumbles. As if it was a reminder everything was flashing into her mind and she opened her eyes, only to find tears in them. She pushes him away, gets up, gathers her stuff and was about to leave when he holds her wrists. He gets up behind her and whispers in her ear "don't try to fight it away Hermione. You know how you feel about me. You know it in your heart. You are trying to fight me away but I will bet you that one of these days I will make you see what is in my heart and make you mine forever." He lets go of her wrist, walks over to his chair, and gathers his book and leaves.

Hermione watches him leave with tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe what she just heard. She had been trying to deny it for a long time that she doesn't like him and she is better off without him but she had been wrong. She was in love with him and she still is in love with him. She sits back onto her chair and stares at the space which was emptied by Draco just a couple of minutes ago.

He is right, I shouldn't fight it anymore. Rather I should fight it and ask for answer and tell him that I love him and ask him to love me back. She thought and was about to go after him when she hears someone clearing his throat.

It was Blaise Zabini.

He had been watching their interaction for five minutes already. When he saw Draco leave he found the opportunity he was looking for. He walks to her and clears his throat.

"Hey Granger, could I speak to you?" he asked

Coming out of haze she looks at him and asks "what do you want to talk about?"

"About you and Draco… and… and your friends."

She raises her eyebrows when mentioned her friends "What about them?"

"You might not know this but your friends are into this plan of Draco against you."

She might have heard him wrong and asks "sorry, come again?"

"Draco asked your friends to help him spend one night with you. And you know what, they agreed."

"Zabini… I don't know if you know this but everyone in this school and outside this school know me as a smartest witch of our age. What makes you think that I will believe any rubbish you sprout against my friends?"

"Fine then, don't believe me. Go ask them then. Ask them if they were onto his plan or not. They might be back from their trip. Go now. And after you do I need a favor from you. Don't hang around my friend anymore. I don't want you tainting his blood." saying this he leaves.

Hermione was speechless. She wasn't speechless because she was cheated by Draco again. She was speechless because she was angry and hurt by her friends. She grabs everything she finds and leaves for her house.

Luna finds Blaise sitting alone by the lake. She walks up to him and speaks "it's curiosity and hurt together."

Blaise looks up and makes his face and ask "what the hell are you talking about?"

"Remember I told you I see something around you head. Its curiosity and hurt. Both of the feelings have different colour but when they are mixed together it gives an unusual colour. That was what I had seen around your head the other day. Well I see it now also." She says

"Why are you telling me this?" he asks

"Because I heard what you said to Hermione in the library just now. I was there to grab a book to look at the colour again when I saw Draco and Hermione talk and then I saw you walking towards her."

"So, what? You are gonna tell everyone what I did?" he asks

"Just so you know I am not the typical girl you have been seeing around. If you haven't noticed people call me Loony Lovegood. And I don't really care about what they call me. I am not the kind of person who talks about other. I am only telling you about what I saw around your head because you left me no other choice."

"What are you talking about?" he asks with curiosity

She sits beside him and he doesn't back off. "I wouldn't have said anything to you about your colour if you had left Hermione and Draco alone. But you didn't and now because of you action both of them will suffer. I believe one of them is your best friend?" she asks

"Are you here to lecture me?" he ask

"I am not good at it. But… you have that colour because I believe you like to hurt people and you are very curious as to see what will be the result of it. I think you have been like this your whole life. And I also believe that these feelings have been coming to you since you were very little. I don't know the whole story but it might be because of your birth parents Blaise."

He thought he was hit by a lightning because everything around him was spinning and he was seeing red. He didn't know what he was doing after he heard her explanation but he calmed down when she slapped him. "Why did you hit me?" he asked

"Because you were going to hit me?"

"Then why did you tell me all those rubbish?" he asks

"It wasn't rubbish and you know it Blaise. Those feelings are not good for you. If you let them win over you then you will be alone your whole life. I know this because I am good at it. Trust me, let it go. Let it all go and help your friend and I promise you, you will find peace you have been looking for."

Blaise looked at her and really looked at her. He didn't see her as a nutter anymore but rather a very beautiful, intelligent girl. She smiled at him and he thought he just skipped a beat in his heart.

He doesn't know what made him say this but he said "I trust you and I will also promise you I will make everything ok."

She smiled at him.

She has been waiting for them in their common room and she had made sure that nobody was around when she confronts her friends. So now she was waiting for her friends sitting on the chair by the fire. Ron walks in the portrait hole and Harry and Ginny follow him.

"Oh, hey Mione. Strange you are doing nothing. No homework or anything else." He laughed at his own joke and Harry and Ginny also laughed.

"You know what is stranger? When one finds out that their friends have been conspiring behind ones back." She stated with a very angry face.

Her friends knew that face and were quiet immediately. But very confused from her statement Ginny asked "What are you talking about, Hermione? Who is conspiring against whom?"

"Oh, I am sorry, you didn't know or are you trying to act innocent?" she asks in a very mocking voice.

"Ok, totally confuse, what are you on about?" Ron ask

"Your brain doesn't have the capacity to work with my statement, Ron, so I understand if you are confused."

"Ouch… ok if you are trying to dish me then its working, what the hell is your problem?" Ron asks again

"Oh you wanna know my problem? Oh I guess you do, because you are my friend right? But why are you bothering, you could just go behind my back and mention it to Malfoy."

In the mention of Draco's name everyone was surprised. To create peace in the situation Harry speaks "Hermione tell me what you heard?"

"Why should I tell you? I think I will just go and find myself a Slytherin friend and mention them about my problem. But you know what none of the Slytherins wants to be my friends because I am FUCKING MUDBLOOD." By the end of her statement Hermione was crying and screaming. "I thought even if I was hurt by someone I love, my friends would always be with me. I guess I was wrong." She wiped her face.

"Hermione, sweetheart, tell me what you heard. Whatever bad it is, it's not true. Draco and we…" Ginny was about to complete her sentence when Hermione put her hand up in order to stop her.

"Let me ask you something. Have you and Malfoy been sneaking around my back and talking about me or not?" she asks

"Hermione we…" Ron tries to lead the conversation but Hermione stops him again.

"Yes, or No?"

Nobody says anything but they look at each other.

They were driving her patience so she speaks again "Yes or No?"

"Yes" says Harry. "But there is a reason behind it. Hermione …." He also couldn't complete his sentence.

"I know the reason. Now the war is finished. Now my work is done helping you guys win the war. You don't need me anymore. But you know what, you didn't have to do this. You could have just told me not to be friends with you anymore and I would have left you guys alone. I know when I am not needed. I guess you wanted me to realize that I am not worthy of you people. I will always be a mudblood. This word never held any importance in my life but from now on it will always remind me of this day when our friendship was over. Bye" she wiped her face and turned around and left the room.

Everything happened so fast that none of the three could wrap their brain around what had just happened. In the course of five minutes one of their friends had cut ties with them and they couldn't think straight.

"What the hell just happened?" panicked Ron ask

"If I knew I wouldn't be confused, Ron." said Ginny

"Something must have happen, or else she wouldn't react like this. Did Draco say anything to her?" asked Harry

"I don't know, how the hell would I know I was with you, remember?" told Ron

"Ya and I were with Pansy going over the idea as what to get you for Monday. Oh my God what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, man this woman, never listens anything. She talks too much. I can't think straight." said Ron.

"You know what guys? Let's wait till tomorrow. If she does anything like this tomorrow we have to take action and talk to Draco about it. Hopefully everything will better in the future." Harry suggested

Both the redhead agreed and left the common room.

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