A/N- Could this be the chapter that you were all waiting for? Possibly, you will have to read and find out!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Statement
Draco tapped his foot impatiently. He checked the clock that hung above the doors for the hundredth time, but this time it read seven-thirty. He had heard of girls being fashionably late, but this was Hermione Granger after all. She defined on time. Plus he had seen her Weaslette friend walk into the dance with Dean Thomas fifteen minutes ago. Didn't girls go together?
He sighed in frustration and uncrossed his arms. Where the hell was she? He could not wait any longer, he was nervous enough as it is. Draco headed over to where the dance was, and walked through the doors. He stepped to the side, to not block the way, and searched the room. He needed to find the Weasley girl and ask her if she knew where Hermione was.
He was busy searching the crowd when he felt a pair of hands on his arm. His eyes darted next to him to reveal a smirking Pansy. He eyed her and pulled his arm away when her hands started up his arm. She was wearing a short black dress, no surprise. "Hey Draco," she cooed. "Where's your mysterious date?" She pretended to look around the room. "No show?" She looked back over at him and placed a hand on his navy blue tie. Draco gave her a smug look before taking her hand and dropping it to her side.
"She's coming," he said.
"Of course she is," Pansy patted his tie again. "You know Draco if you didn't have a date you could have always-"
"I said she's coming." He threw her a warning glance and she backed off.
"Fine," Pansy ran her hands down her dress. "I have to get back to my date anyways." She gave him an unsatisfied look before heading into the crowd of students. Draco blew out a breath; he just needed to find Weasley. He ran a hand through his feathered hair as he began searching the crowd with his eyes again. He caught a glimpse of red hair in the mess of students, and hoped it wasn't Ron, and made his way through the mashed up students grinding and jumping around. When he got to the middle of the dance floor he found Ginny and Dean dancing on top of each other. He walked over to Ginny and grabbed at her wrist.
"Hey," he said over the blaring music.
"Man, what are you doing?" Dean yelled at him. Ginny looked at Draco and caught the worry in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" She asked, turning away from Dean. "What happened?"
"Where is she?" Draco yelled.
"Where is who?" Dean yelled back. Draco rolled his eyes and pulled Ginny over to a more vacant spot.
"Where is Hermione?" He asked.
"What do you mean? She's not here yet?" Draco shook his head and Ginny frowned. "I haven't seen her."
"You didn't walk down with her?"
"No, she stayed behind and said she would come in a bit." Draco looked back at the crowd of people. He could feel his heart beating faster. "Maybe she's coming right now." Draco looked back at Ginny and frowned. Was that pity she was giving him?
"I should go find her," he looked over his shoulder.
"Do you know where she might be?" Draco didn't answer Ginny as he turned around and made his way out of the room and into the hallway. He felt he could breathe out there better. He craned his neck to look at the staircase, still no sign of her. Draco looked down the dim lighted hallway; maybe she was in the bathroom and wanted to speak to him before they told everybody? He decided that it was a possibility, and raced towards the bathroom.
"Hermione?" He called out, when he entered the bathroom. Chills ran down his spine, it looked like no one had even been in there.
"She's not here," Moaning Myrtle slowly came out from the wall and hovered above his head.
"Has she been in here recently?" He asked. Myrtle shook her head no and chuckled.
"She's ruining everything, isn't she?" Draco frowned. "I'm just saying."
"Yeah well don't," Draco coldly said to the ghost before leaving the bathroom. He walked through the halls, thinking of places where she could be and he stopped.
Where was the last place he ever saw Hermione truly happy? He raced down the halls and pounded up staircases. He knew where she was.
Hermione looked over the snow covered grounds of Hogwarts in the Astronomy Tower. She sighed; it looked so peaceful with the light flakes of snow falling from the sky. She wanted to take a picture of it. But the picture would not be of just the blanket of snow that covered the castle with the light snow falling down. It would also be a dark photo. A photo that held a lot more secrets than just of the moving image of the snow. It would be a reminder of how she got there. What she did, how she ruined everything.
She let out a small whimper and her bottom lip trembled. She fiddled with the small round object between her thumb and pointer finger. She wanted to reach out and open her hand so the object would fall into the snow and be hidden in the blanket of snow forever. Yes, she should do it. She would do it.
Hermione, with a clenched fist, held the object in the palm of her hand and brought it out and over the ground. All she needed to do was open her hand and it would be gone. She felt her hand unclench and she slowly began to open it…
"I knew I would find you here." Hermione gasped, and spun around. Her fist, still with the object in it, on her chest. Her eyes ran over the gorgeous blond standing on the other side of the room from her. He looked exhausted.
"Draco," she breathed. "What are you doing up here?"
"I should be asking you that." He crossed his arms, frowning.
"Oh," she turned around to look back out at the grounds. "Thinking," she said.
"And were you thinking about coming down?" He asked. She heard the sharpness in his voice.
"No," she honestly said, and was surprised when it slipped out. "I was going to leave you there." He scoffed.
"Why? Why did you bail? What was all that shit about fighting for love? You are full of it, Hermione."
"I know!" She spun around. "Don't you think I know that?" She yelled. "You think I don't realize what I'm doing? Draco I'm scared!" She took a step out in front of her. "I'm scared of what might happen! Not just for me, but for you! Us! What if this is all a huge mistake?"
"We won't know until we find out!" He snapped.
"But what if we can't fix this mistake? I can't do this, Draco. I thought I could but I can't. I'm sorry, I'm chicken. I don't care, I know I am. I want something that I don't know I can get from you!"
"What the fuck are you-"
"I want this Malfoy," she headed over to him and shoved the ring into his hands. "I want this, and I don't know if I can get it from what we have." He eyed her and then eyed the ring.
"What is-"
"Read the inscription inside." She said, exhausted. Draco held up the ring and squinted.
"Always," he whispered. Draco looked down at her.
"That's what I want." She whispered. "I want to know that if we go through with this, it will last awhile, so I'm not going through all this for no reason. And I want to know that everything will be okay tomorrow. When you tell your parents they will accept us and let us live our lives together. That's what I want." Draco stared at her, his eyes flickering over to the ring one last time before handing it back to her.
"I can't promise any of that," he walked around her. "How the fuck would I know?" He turned back to her. "No one can predict love, Hermione. It's unpredictable."
"Yes but it's safer with some other people."
"Like Ron?" Hermione stared at him, breathing heavily.
"I'm sorry… but yes." Draco closed his eyes. "But I don't want to be with him." He looked back at her. "He's my best friend, but that's all we will ever be." She held up her ring, looked at it, walked next to Draco and chucked it out the opening in the wall without hesitation. They stood there in silence and Draco slowly turned to her.
"What was that?"
"Me letting go," she smiled, staring out at the view. He hesitated before asking his next question.
"What do you want now?"
"You," she said, looking at him. "I just…" she rubbed her hands together. "I just don't know if I can do this." Draco grabbed her hand, startling her.
"Enough," he said. "You are not going through with this alone. You never were! Do you hear me?" She stared at him. "Now I can't promise anything about what will happen when we tell everyone tonight. But I can promise that tomorrow I will be there for you. Even if everyone has their backs turned from us, I will still be here." Hermione tried to hold back her tears. "If they are really your friends Hermione, they will learn to accept us. And I want you, Hermione. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here right now." He kissed her hand.
"Why do you put up with me?" She whispered. "I've done so many things."
"And so have I," he smirked. "Now, are you ready to go down there with me or not?" A slow smiled spread onto Hermione's face.
"I think so," Draco smiled back and slowly inched towards her face and when he met her lips he kissed her fiercely. "I love you." She said first, as they pulled back.
"I love you too." He said. "Oh and by the way, you look stunning."
"I wouldn't want anybody else by my side tonight."
"You sure?" He joked, squeezing her hand.
"Positive, now let's go." They held hands as they walked out of the Astronomy Tower and down the stairs, through the hallways, and stopped before entering the dance. This is right, I should be with him, I deserve to be with him, I can do this. Hermione recited in her head. And she believed herself. She looked over at Draco who was staring at her. "Ready?"
"Yes," they both headed in, hand in hand.
Hermione felt a new pair of eyes on them every step they took. Just breath, she reminded herself. Everything is going to be okay. She resisted the urge to look down at the ground, and kept her head held high. She stopped walking and her grip tightened on Draco's. He stopped in his tracks and looked over at her.
"What's wrong?"
"I see Harry and Ron," she said, staring at her friends from the distance. They were all sitting around a table, Luna next to Harry, Harry next to Ron, Ron next to Lavender, and then followed by Dean and Ginny. Luna, Harry, Ron, and Lavender had their backs to them.
"Let's get this over with," she heard Draco sigh and she dropped his hand.
"Follow me," she did not take her eyes off of her friends as she made her way through the crowd, Draco following close behind her. As they came into view, Ginny caught sight of her and stood up abruptly. She watched as everybody at the table looked at Ginny then turned around to see what startled her. Smiles spread across Ron and Harry's face when they saw her, but turned into a frown when they saw Draco behind her.
Hermione stopped in front of them and Draco stopped next to her, looking around at the decorated winter room, not wanting to make eye contact yet. "Hey guys," she said uneasily.
"What's going on?" Harry asked as he and Ron stood up from their seats.
"What's he doing here?" Draco looked at Ron and rolled his eyes.
"I'm here to tell you what's been going on." Hermione slowly said. "And um I don't want to hear any um," she felt her face flush. "Just you know um okay, here it goes." She looked over at Draco and then back at Harry and Ron. She took a deep breath, "Draco and I have been sneaking around because we are… seeing each other." She watched every one of their reactions. Ron flinched, Harry blinked, Luna smiled, Dean's eyes widened, Lavender's mouth dropped open, and Ginny frowned. Harry made the first bold move and spoke.
"And when you say seeing each other you mean…"
"We are um… dating each other." Hermione said slowly.
"What?" Ron spat.
"I knew it wasn't a dream!" Lavender threw her napkin on the table and jumped up from her seat.
"Is this a joke?" Ron said, disgusted.
"Hermione," Harry shook his head. "How is this possible?"
"She fell for me, what can I say?" Draco smirked. Hermione watched Ron's jaw clench, an uneasy feeling spreading through her.
"I'm going to kill you!" They all watched as Ron lunged forward at Draco, grabbing his collar and punched him. Hermione stumbled back; her mouth hanging open as Draco fell backwards, knocking into one of the tables behind him. A few glasses spilled over and Parvati, one of the occupants at the table, gasped and quickly pushed herself away from the table before the liquid spilled into her lap. She stood up and stared in a gape at them. Hermione looked over at Ron who seemed to be inching towards Draco again.
"Ron!" She grabbed at his arm but he wrenched it away. "Stop! Please!"
"I'm going to kill him!" He informed everybody again. Draco quickly balanced himself out and ducked out of the way as Ron attempted another punch. He reached out and grabbed Ron's collar and shoved him away. Ron tumbled backwards and fell over onto a chair, and they both collapsed to the ground.
"Harry!" Hermione pleaded with her best friend. Harry looked at Hermione, whipped out his wand and stepped in between Ron and Draco as they headed for each other again.
"Stop!" He yelled at them, threatening both of them with his wand.
"Harry!" Ron yelled, when Harry pointed it at him.
"What's going on here?" Professor McGonagall rushed over and took in the scene. People standing around with shocked expressions, drinks spilled over, a chair on the ground, Harry in between a bloody nosed Malfoy and a smug looking Ron, and tears rolling down Hermione's cheeks. "Huh?" She asked again. "Can anyone give me an explanation?" Ron broke his stare off with Malfoy, threw Hermione a one last disgusted look and responded,
"You're not going to find one here." He shoved aside and chair and headed out. McGonagall looked worriedly at him and found Hermione's hurt eyes.
"Miss Granger?" She asked. Hermione just shook her head. Harry lowered his wand and mumbled a quick apology as he passed the professor and headed out after Ron. Hermione looked over at Draco then at everybody's shocked faces. She felt a sudden urge to go after Ron and Harry so she took off after them. Draco caught her wrist and she turned towards him.
"You have to stay here. We wanted to make a statement together, how can we do that if you go after them? Plus, I think Weasley needs to cool down, there's nothing more you can say to him that's going to make the situation better right now." Hermione frowned at him, but knew he was right. Draco let go of her wrist and touched his face with the back of his hand. He looked at it and the spot of blood that appeared on the back of his pasty skin. "Let's sit down," he grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the table Hermione's friends were at. McGonagall came over to them.
"I don't want to see anymore fighting, do you understand?" Hermione, answering for everybody, shook her head yes. "Very well," the professor gave them all a one last worried glance, picked up the chair that was on the ground, and walked away.
"Here, let me help," Hermione took a napkin, dipped it in a glass of water and began dabbing it under Draco's nose.
"That went better than I thought it would." He admitted, Hermione sighed.
"Wait a minute," Lavender turned to Ginny, who was standing next to her. "What did you guys to do me after I found out?"
"Shut up, Lavender," Ginny told her and hurried over to Draco and Hermione.
"Are you okay?" She asked Draco.
"Fine," he mumbled.
"And you?" Ginny touched Hermione's shoulder. She handed Draco the napkin and he put it up to his nose. Hermione looked up at Ginny and wiped the smeared makeup from under her eyes.
"I'll be okay," she said. Ginny looked up at the crowd of people still watching all of them.
"Draco?" Pansy called, pushing past people in the crowd. Crabbe, Goyle, and Blaise followed behind her. "What the hell are you doing with that Mudblood?" Draco put down his napkin and turned to Hermione.
"I'll deal with them," he pushed his seat away from the table and stood up. He walked over to them. "Don't call her that."
"What's going on?" Crabbe asked, eyeing Hermione.
"She's my girlfriend, you jackass." They stared at him in shock.
"You're actually dating, Hermione?" Draco looked over his shoulder at Parvati, who looked frightened that she spoke up.
"Clearly," Draco rolled his eyes and looked back at his friends. "You got a problem with that?" He challenged them.
"Yeah, I do." Blaise stepped up to him. Draco stared them down.
"Well speak up, don't be afraid." Goyle raised his hand and Draco threw him a look.
"Listen, I can date who ever the fuck I want to date. And I really don't give a crap what you guys think."
"Draco, how can you date her though?" Pansy looked over at Hermione, disgusted.
"Please, half the people you've slept with." Pansy blushed and turned her face away from Draco. "That's what I thought." He looked back over at the other three. "Get over it." They looked down at the floor. "And if any of you idiots tell my parents before I do, I will curse your asses so bad." He threatened. They all nodded. Draco left it at that and walked back over to Hermione and sat down.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Fine," he smiled at her. "You want to dance? That's what people do at these things, right?" Hermione smiled.
"Yes," Draco took her hand and they stood up together and walked onto the dance floor as a slow song came on. All eyes were on them as they took hold of each other and smiled, letting the rest of the world fade out around them.
A/N- Thank you for your reviews, I appreciate them.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter!
Brittany