Disclaimer: Not mine. Not yours. Only JK Rowling's.

A/N: Well, I'm back and alive. And wow, I actually made it on time! Um, I really don't have anything to say so just read this chapter and review afterwards, okay?

Enjoy!

Chapter Eighteen: Awfully Happy

" – and then, Ginny suddenly grabbed an innocent vase from one of the windows and hurtled it towards her brother! Imagine my surprise! Oh Merlin, you should be there when I blasted the vase into smithereens to save Ron. Ron's face was priceless when he looked at his furious sister, horrified."

Harry waited for Hermione to give a small comment. He turned his expectant eyes towards her form and frowned. She merely gave a nod of her head and buried her face deeper into her knees. "Are you okay?" he asked in concern, his hand on her shoulder. When she refused to lift her head and look at him, he started to massage the shoulder he was holding. "Hermione? Come on, you know I won't stop pestering you until you tell me what's bothering you."

He heard her release a soft sigh and mumbled a word he couldn't understand. "What?" he asked once again.

"Malfoy," she repeated. He noticed that her cheeks flushed and she buried her face deeper, seemingly embarrassed.

The Gryffindor frowned, bothered by Hermione's answer. Ever since he arranged for them to meet in the Room of Requirement, the brunette's mind was always filled with the blond. "Not him again," he groaned, an annoyed scowl on his face.

Hermione guiltily lifted her head. "I-I'm sorry," she apologized. She closed her eyes and hid them behind her hands, releasing a sigh in the process. "It's just… I don't know what to do anymore, Harry. I-I'm afraid that he'll suddenly blurt out to anybody he passed by about my secret."

Harry's face gradually softened as she lifted her face once again and stared at him. "What am I going to do, Harry? Should I… should I tell Dumbledore? His sudden knowledge about my identity's making me worried sick." She paused to release a loud groan. "Merlin, I'm tempted to hurtle a Memory Charm towards him every time I see that blond!"

"Don't forget to invite me if you're really going to do that," he butted in, humored. "I couldn't miss it for the world."

"Harry!" she exclaimed in frustration. "This isn't time for your bloody jokes. This is about - ." A strangled moan escaped from her lips. "And now I'm starting to sound like you when you were having problems about Voldemort! No offense."

Harry merely released a good-natured laugh and nonchalantly shrugged. "None taken," he said. Now, why would he be offended when what she said was perfectly true? "You know," he continued after minutes of silence, "I can actually produce a good Memory Charm. If you're too… wimpy to do it yourself, I'm volunteering myself to do it to him." A small smirk appeared on his face. "After all, payback's bitch."

In spite of her current mood, she chuckled. "Oh, Harry," she merely said, shaking her head in disbelief. "What am I to do without you in my life?"

The-Boy-Who-Lived's smirk widened. "True, Hermione Granger. What are you going to do if I'm not in your life now?" he asked. The smirk on his face broke into a grin as he gathered the brunette into his arms.

Hermione sighed and buried her face against his neck, just contented that he was there beside her. She allowed silence to ensue around the hide-away room. After all, she never minded silences with Harry. It was always comfortable.

Soon, a bit too soon for Hermione, she broke the silence. She couldn't contain the question bubbling at the tip of her tongue anymore. "Harry," she started, closing her eyes and buried her face deeper against his neck. "What will happen if everybody suddenly discovered that Hermes Austen is actually Hermione Granger?" she asked softly.

"You very well know that I don't know the answer to that," he said with his own defeated sigh, mindlessly stroking her boyish hair. He honestly missed her long and curly tresses.

He grew silent once again, but then suddenly released a groan followed by a disbelieving laugh. "I always knew Draco Malfoy's a pain-in-the-arse!" He cried it so triumphantly it made Hermione smile. "Ugh, I won't even mind if it was Crabbe or Goyle who discovered your secret. They do not have enough brain cells to withhold such revelations."

The brunette chuckled, playfully punching his shoulder. "Quit insulting them, Harry," she reprimanded, although her eyes were dancing with slight amusement. "They're not as awful as we used to know. Well… probably buffoons with stomachs that can hold the whole world, but, they're quite… endearing in their own ways."

Harry's face contorted into unadulterated disgust and Hermione had to glare at him hardly. "If you're not going to say anything good, just shut up."

"Shutting up," he grinned cheekily, his hands raised up in defeat.

Hermione released another chuckle before completely pulling herself away from Harry. "Well, I feel much better now," she said. "And it's getting late so I guess we should go back to our own dormitories now, Harry."

The-Boy-Who-Lived, ever melodramatic, placed a mocking hand against his chest and managed to feign hurt on his face. "I'm deeply offended, Miss Granger," he proclaimed, pouting his lips for more effect. "I cannot believe that you only seek for my company whenever you are troubled. What happened to the times when we would just meet and talk nonsensical things? Huh? HUH?"

"Nonsensical things my foot," Hermione muttered with a huge grin on her face. "I appreciate your effort in making me happy, Harry Potter, but sometimes, don't go way overboard, yeah? You irritate me sometimes."

Harry guffawed and affectionately patted her head. "There, there," he said, as if talking to a little dog. "No need to be so blunt today. Aren't you glad I'm willing to embarrass myself just to make you happy? That's how much I love you, Hermione Granger."

She merely shook her head and stood up from the couch. "Go back to the Gryffindor common room," she said once again. "Filch will soon be patrolling this floor." Upon seeing Harry's pout, she chuckled and gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Merlin, immature much? Fine, I love you, too. There. Are you happy now?"

"Very," The-Boy-Who-Lived exclaimed, a huge grin now seen on his face. His expression sobered as he stood up and gave Hermione a hug. "You'll be okay, right?"

Relaxed, Hermione nodded. "I will, Harry. I soon will."

Satisfied, Harry pulled away from their hug and gave her one last wave before bidding her goodbye and walking out of the Room of Requirement.

As soon as Harry was gone, the light and playful ambiance of the room followed him out.

Hermione was left standing there all alone, a huge dark cloud hovering above her head. She released a wistful sigh before following Harry's lead and exiting the Room of Requirement, only this time heading for the other way.

Sometimes, she really wished that Harry would always be by her side.

It was truly late now, Hermione assumed. Past curfew, to be precise. A few times during her small journey back to the Slytherin common room, she heard footsteps of some patrollers and she swore they were heading off towards her direction. But just when she could finally see their silhouette in the dark, some unimaginable force would tug them towards the opposite direction away from the apprehensive brunette.

It was undeniable. She loved this certain privilege she had.

Sighing, she shook her head to get rid of nonsense from her brain. She once again returned to the most important matter for her – Draco Malfoy. She was actually getting tired of thinking about him again and again, but what could she do? Every time she was alone without any distractions, her mind would wander back into him and instantly feel dreadful.

'Why him, of all people?' she asked herself and the cosmic powers above. 'Why him? Why not Blaise. I sure know that he'll perfectly understand. Or, why not Teddy? For goodness' sake, I can bribe him with sweets so he'll shut up and forgive me completely! But no, it was Draco 'Bloody' Malfoy!'

An angry noise was emitted from her throat, disturbing some slumbering portraits. Hermione profusely, yet silently apologized as some of them gave her disapproving looks. She hurriedly rushed downstairs, just wanting to slip under her bedcovers and allow sleep to remove her from reality. Maybe, just maybe, she would be able to see her parents there.

It was simple thought, a wishful idea even, but it was enough to fuel Hermione's strides and before she knew it, she was staring blankly at the bare wall, which served as the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

"Vanidicus," she murmured, her nose wrinkled in annoyance. See, even the Slytherin common room knew what she truly was.

A liar.

Hermione wondered if it was Malfoy who thought of that password, just so he could mock her every time she entered their common room. But then, she would mentally berate herself and logically say to her brain that it was impossible, seeing that only the Head Boy and Girl could change the passwords of all entrance passageways.

The brunette then crossed the threshold while massaging the bridge of her nose in frustration. 'Only a few more steps and you'll be on your bed, Hermione Granger,' she assured herself. She dropped her hand away from her nose and opened her eyes to continue her trip…

… only to halt midway in astonishment.

Draco Malfoy was sitting on the green carpeted floor of the room, his grey eyes unabashedly staring at the sudden intruder of the common room. Apparently, he was doing his homework in Transfiguration (all alone, it seemed, seeing that nobody was with him) when Hermione finally strode inside the common room and broke his concentration.

Hermione couldn't believe her luck as dread and horror grew at the pit of her stomach. 'I should have waited for a while,' she berated herself, eyes firmly plastered on the ground. 'Just march, Hermione. Go on. Do not look at him. Think he is not there at all. For Merlin's sake, think he does not exist at all!'

"Wait!" he called out, but Hermione kept on walking. Her hands were tightly balled into fist; her eyes were burning holes on the floor already but she kept on walking and walking and walking.

"Almost there," she whispered to herself.

"Goddamn it, Granger! I said stop!"

The brunette couldn't help it. She whipped around so fast and shushed him with a mixture of fear and annoyance. "Don't scream my name!" she cried in a furious whisper. Hermione looked around and was relieved that nobody was able to hear him.

Draco glared at her from the coffee table. "Well, you weren't stopping like I ordered you to," he said matter-of-factly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. Typical him. "You can't go ordering me around, Malfoy," she spat back, eyes fiery with anger.

"Watch it, Austen," he said, eyes thinning into slits. "I can call you by… it again and I'll make sure that every single Slytherin in this whole dormitory will be able to hear it."

The brunette clamped her lips together. Tight. Her wand hand itched to brandish her magical stick and blast him off into oblivion. But she had to control herself. 'Control, Hermione.' Judging by his reputation and his expression right now, Draco Malfoy was dead serious.

The disguised Slytherin released a defeated sigh, knowing that Malfoy had the upper hand. And the ferret had the nerve to rub it off into her face. 'Ooh, I am so tempted to wipe that smirk off your face, Malfoy. I swear to Merlin. I someday will.'

Hermione rubbed her eyes tiredly and expectantly stared at Draco. All he did was stare back. "Well?" she asked, after more minutes ticked by. "Why did you stop me, Malfoy? After that… incident in the Room of Requirement, I kind of got the message that you don't want to see my face anymore."

Draco quirked an amused smirk. "For a woman who'd been quaking on her boots these past few days, you sure look calm, Granger." He whispered it, almost inaudible to her ears, but for safety's sake, she looked around once again.

"Don't call me that," she hissed. Her eyes were wide in fear as her eyes darted towards the doors of her other Housemates. "What if… what if someone heard you?"

"We're all alone, Austen," he said, calling her by her fake surname. "Nobody's here to know that you're a vanidicus."

That had struck a nerve and Hermione instantly turned away from him. 'Calm down,' she told herself once again. 'That's a good girl. Calm down.' She averted her eyes back to the blond and callously stated, "If you're just going to further judge me tonight, Draco Malfoy, then I'm afraid I have to leave." She turned around, determined to ignore him this time.

"No, no, wait!" he exclaimed. Hermione cursed her feet for following his orders. Thank Merlin her eyes were still following her. She was determined not to look at him.

While her back was facing him, she heard an exhausted sigh. It was soft but Hermione was so sure it was an exhausted one.

"I-I'm…" He paused then sighed. "Look, Austen, why don't you just sit down on the couch and wait for a few moments, okay?"

Hermione was torn. Should she listen to him or not? 'Maybe it's a trap, Hermione,' her overactive, imaginative side whispered in her left ear. 'Maybe once you're seated on one of those couches, Death Eaters would arrive with Voldemort and imprison you like what he did to your parents.'

'Oh, don't be silly, Hermione,' the logical part of her murmured in her right ear. 'He's part of the Order. He's a spy for Dumbledore, for goodness' sake! Now give me one good reason why you think this is some trap of his.'

'Because he hates me?' the brunette offered and her logical part laughed in disbelief.

She knew it was farfetched. Draco Malfoy might be ruthless and coldhearted and a bastard but he was no way near petty. That was Teddy, not Malfoy. Oh how she wished Malfoy acted like Teddy. She could just bribe him with sweets then everything would be all right.

Hermione sighed, slowly turning around and approaching the couch behind Malfoy. In the end, logic prevailed. Sometimes, she fervently wished that imaginations were real. They would have helped her in tough times like this.

As soon as she was sitting snuggly on the couch, she waited for Draco to speak. His blond hair was facing her, although she could see a small part of his face.

He seemed deep in thought, she reckoned. His mercurial eyes would constantly darken; his teeth constantly worrying his bottom lip. The brunette remembered the time when she stared deeply into his eyes… 'Lovely,' she absentmindedly thought before catching herself and vigorously shaking her head. 'Get your head back from the cloud, for Merlin's sake, woman!'

Hermione inaudibly sighed and continued to wait for him to speak. Her eyes once again found themselves surveying the right side of his face. She was surprised to see exhaustion settling once in a while before completely disappearing before her eyes. He looked slightly paler than normal and there were dark bags under his eyes.

The brunette had a feeling that Draco Malfoy had looked this vulnerable before, only she was not entirely sure. After all, there was a comforter obscuring her view of him a few months ago. To her utmost horror, her mouth opened and voiced out the question that formulated in her mind. "Did something happen to your mother today?"

Draco looked astonished as he looked at her with wide eyes, mouth agape. Hermione faintly colored, mentally berating herself for being too inquisitive for her own good.

"How did you - ?" His voice faltered. His eyes were now curiously surveying Hermione from head to toe before shaking his head in disbelief. He averted his eyes away from Hermione back to his Transfiguration essay. "I don't even want to know." He finally said.

Hermione's blush darkened. And to her immense dreadfulness, her mouth decided to make a fool out of herself. Again.

"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered out, her eyes widening every second. "I'm being inquisitive, aren't I? It's none of my business, Merlin Almighty!" Color was slowly draining from her face. "A-and, I'm sorry about all this 'I'm Hermes Austen' crap! I'm sorry! I told you perfectly well, Malfoy, that I'm not doing this for my own benefit. Well, a little, a guess… but that's beyond my point! What I'm trying to say is that stop judging me for being such a deceitful bitch and lying to you, to Blaise, to Teddy, to everyone else! I'm doing this for my parents! I want to save them from your Lord Bastard, you understand, huh? I'm so scared someone's going to get hurt because of saving them so I'm risking my fucking life just so I could save them from that bastard. I'm sorry, it's just that…"

Her voice faltered and Hermione was so surprised she was panting, greedily gulping oxygen for her exhausted lungs. She couldn't believe her calm demeanor suddenly broke and she ranted so much to Draco Malfoy… Draco Malfoy! She blamed it to apprehension. Perhaps she suddenly contracted a virus of verbal diarrhea? Maybe she could also blame her horror. Or mostly because of exhaustion… she was tired of lying to everybody. Merlin, she was tired of also lying to herself.

To her utmost horror, her eyes watered and she immediately looked away, not wanting to further embarrass herself in front of Malfoy.

"I… understand."

Those two soft words uttered by Malfoy made a tear slip down from Hermione's eyes. From relief, she guessed. She hastily wiped it away and looked at Malfoy, question in her eyes.

She could see the confusion on his face. She could see that he was struggling for words. She could also see something indecipherable on his face but before she could delve deeper into that, Malfoy continued to talk. "You – you don't have to apologize. You are right and your reason for your pretense is undoubtedly acceptable. I was just being… irrational, I guess. I mean, who wouldn't when you saw a person that was supposedly dead for two months already? It's just that seeing you alive is… weird."

A smile formed on Hermione's lips, regardless of the gathering tears in her eyes. It seemed like the logical part of Draco Malfoy had prevailed, too.

"I'm… sorry," he stuttered out. Hermione appreciated the effort it took him just to utter those two words. "It's just that there are a lot of things happening already and I'm so tired. I just…" His voice faltered once again as he buried his face into his arms on the coffee table. "I'm such a bastard, yeah?"

"You have no idea," she answered back. A smile practically enveloped her whole face when she heard his low, muffled chuckle.

Silence settled between the two. Draco's head was still buried into his arms whilst Hermione unconsciously stared at him, a thoughtful look on her face.

Before, Hermione firmly believed that every man has something good in them (except Voldemort for the brunette never treated him as a human being). But then, she met Draco Malfoy. For years, she tried to find at least one pleasant thing about him but in the end, she never found anything.

None. Nix. Nada. Nil. Nothing.

And thus, she reacted accordingly upon knowing that he would be her roommate for her last ten months in Hogwarts.

But then, she came to know more about him. His unbreakable friendship with Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott, his undying love for his mother (therefore, he changed sides), his hatred for a monster he used to believed was the one being in the whole world who was doing the Purebloods a favor… Everything new about him.

She realized that those were pleasant things of Draco Malfoy.

Hermione slowly shook her head in disbelief. She could not believe that her heart would someday soften for none other than Draco Malfoy. 'Who would have thought?' she asked herself. "Malfoy," she started in a whisper. "Thank you very much."

She waited for any answer from him but in the end received none. A frown grew on Hermione's face as she crouched lower, her face mere inches from Draco's shoulder. "Malfoy?" she asked again, only to receive silence once again.

The frown on her face grew into a small smile upon noticing his deep, calm breaths. He was already sleeping.

The brunette presumed that he really had a long day and she did not have the heart to wake him up. And so, without really putting much thought into it, she stood up from the couch and sprinted quietly towards their room.

Her arrival was unnoticed, seeing that her other two roommates were fast asleep. A disbelieving smile appeared on her face once her eyes landed on Teddy's slumbering form. His comforter was pooled on the floor, covering filth instead of the carefree Slytherin. Teddy moved too much when he slept and every morning, he'd complain of being cold.

Hermione slowly approached his bed, bent down to retrieve his comforter, and gently tucked him under it. Teddy released a satisfied sound, snuggled deeper into his comforter, and continued to sleep. The brunette wondered if he was dreaming of something pleasant.

Her eyes then landed on Blaise's bed. He was the complete opposite of Teddy, sleeping stock-still with his comforter fully covering him. One thing that always bothered Hermione was that the Italian tended to leave a candle alight. She knew that most of the time, Blaise did his nightly ritual in the library but sometimes, he'd stay in his bed and continue reading an interesting book, thus, forgetting to extinguish the candle as soon as he fell asleep.

She slowly shook her head as she approached the bed beside Teddy's. Hermione then blew off the light and soon, the whole room grew dark.

Satisfied with her work, she walked towards Draco's bed, grabbed his comforter, and walked out of their room again.

Draco was still fast asleep when she arrived. Hermione merely placed the comforter around his shoulder. She capped his ink bottle, scrolled his finished Transfiguration essay, and neatly stacked all of his books on top of the coffee table.

As soon as she was done, Hermione's eyes landed back on the blond. He was peaceful when he slept; no stress lines or scowls were visible on his face. The brunette immediately looked away, surprised and embarrassed with the sudden coloring of her cheek. She blamed it on exhaustion.

"Goodnight, Draco Malfoy," she murmured before strolling back to their room to welcome the beckoning of sleep.

Teddy and Blaise were blatantly staring at Draco as he greeted them a cheerful "good morning" and sat down opposite Hermione. Teddy's jaw even dropped when the brunette muttered a soft "good morning", which Draco answered with a smirk on his face. He was just so used to seeing him scowl at his roommate every time his eyes lay upon her.

"Doing some advanced reading now, huh, Austen?" the blond asked, the smirk still visible on his face. Hermione did not answer back, although her lips slightly quirked up for a smirk of her own.

"Don't you find it so weird, Blaise?" Teddy hollered loudly. "Draco's eating with us again."

Blaise merely looked from Hermione back to Draco before looking back at his breakfast, a frown marring his handsome face. Teddy seemed bothered at first, but then let his strange look slip away. Instead, he settled his eyes back on his studying friend and inquired, "You seem awfully happy today, Hermes? Did something good happen?"

Hermione, for the first time, looked up from her Potions book. Her eyes met Draco for a fleeting second before looking back at her carefree roommate, a full-blown smile now on her face. "I just read a wonderful book last night, Teddy, and I can't help but recall it once in a while." She shifted her body so she would be fully facing Blaise. "It's an interesting one, Blaise. I highly recommend it. I can lend it to you, you know? For your nightly rituals."

The Italian smiled. "That'll be nice," he answered, before returning back to his meal again.

Teddy, a little satisfied with the brunette's answer, now looked at Draco. It was astonishing to see that the smirk he was sporting just a while ago had turned into a real smile. The blond rarely smiled, even for him; the last time he had seen Draco smile was ages ago… and that was because Hermione Granger had insulted Pansy Parkinson's appearance.

Hermione Granger… Teddy's eyes narrowed. He always knew that deceased witch held a special place in his best friend's heart. Draco never confessed it; sometimes, he actually thought he was just imagining things when he sometimes saw him staring (secretly) at the unsuspecting Gryffindor, unmistakable adoration in his eyes.

It was… unnerving, to say the least.

"You seem awfully happy, too, Draco," Teddy announced, a frown now gracing his features. "I've never seen you so happy like that ever since Hermione Granger died."

And the next thing Theodore Nott knew, his face was swimming in his porridge bowl. He lifted up his face, sputtering, and stared irritably at his best friend. "What the fuck did you do that for?" he cried, haphazardly wiping his face with his hand.

But Draco seemed not to hear his words as he stared openly at Hermes, shock written all over his face. Through his porridge-soaked face, he was also able to see Blaise looking at Hermes with an equally horrified look on his face.

Hermione, on the other hand, seemed surprised with the sudden attention she was getting. "What?" she asked defensively. "Did I do something wrong?"

Draco looked murderous, although greatly relieved. Apparently, Hermione was too preoccupied with her Potions text book.

He then whipped his head and stared directly at Teddy. The carefree Slytherin cowered, fear flashing in his eyes. "Please don't kill me," he squeaked, arms raised up in defense.

"Learn to shut that big, fat trap of yours, Theodore Nott, before speaking to me again." And with that, he turned around and trudged out of the Great Hall.

"Give him some time to cool down," Blaise piped in as soon as Draco's blond hair was out of sight. "You know how he drives mad every time you say her name, right?"

"What? What am I missing?" Hermione exclaimed in a rush, looking from Blaise to Teddy. "Whose name? What?"

The Italian merely shook his head and stood up. "I'm going back to our room now." He followed Draco's lead and was soon out of the Great Hall.

Hermione then turned to a baffled Teddy. "You okay?"

The Slytherin scratched his head in wonder. "What's up with those two?" he mused aloud. Teddy heaved a huge sigh, brandished his wand, and completely cleaned off the porridge from his face. "Why do I even bother asking? Don't mind me, Hermes. Continue reading. I'll feed this big, fat trap of mine some food."

The brunette oddly stared at Teddy but followed him, nonetheless.

A/N: Aww, they made up already. Isn't that adorable? Haha, I absolutely loved Draco Malfoy in this chapter. Um, probably a hint of Dramione romance? Hmm… and what was that about being "awfully happy"?

Wah, the action is about to start. A few more chapters, I guess.

Anyway, I'm sorry I'm not able to, yet again, compose review responses to all those who reviewed the last chapter (thank you, by the way). I've been awfully busy these past few days, especially since our promenade just ended… WHOA, I can't believe it really is done! I had so much fun, for your information. My friends were awesome, the food was damn delicious, my date was a perfect gentleman (who knew there are still guys like him out there) and, well, I had soooo much fun I was really sad it ended already.

So, I am going to end it here already. Again, please do review!

With love,
2booklover4 :D