Disclaimer: Don't sue! I'm not making a penny off of this.
-And He Didn't Want To Tell-
...
It was well into Thursday night and Hermione had gotten the feeling that Malfoy was avoiding her.
How was it so easy for him to avoid her when they shared the same bloody living quarters together, not to mention—ahem—lavatory? She really would have to mention to McGonagall to change that little fact later when she wasn't busy. Right now, she was busy pacing in front of Malfoy's door debating whether or not to call him out.
What if he was sleeping? Or worse, what if he was awake?
Ever the little goody-two-shoes, Hermione thought of the consequences of not doing one of Snape's assignment.
She knocked twice on his door.
Listening intently, she heard a thud and a grunt. Then finally, a click as the doorknob turned and the door opened.
He groaned, "What do you want?"
The strained civility in his voice was not lost on Hermione.
"Terribly sorry. Were you sleeping?"
"Of course not, Granger. For you see, I never sleep when it's—," he glanced at the clock, "two-thirty in the bloody morning."
She giggled nervously, "Well you see. I just happened to walk past your door and remembered the Potions assignment—"
"I'm going to stop you right there. You woke me up to do an assignment that Snape postponed due to the abysmal quality of the others' potions?"
Crap. The assignment had been postponed to next Friday. Of course she had been a little preoccupied what with missing most of her classes this week and her trip to the Hospital Wing. Hermione had paid little attention on her studies and instead dwelled on the Monday spent with Malfoy. She had forgone trying to remember that other niggling thing and deposited in the back of her mind to be brought up when she had her wits about her.
x
When it seemed that she wasn't going to respond, Draco slammed the door shut.
Hermione was shaken out of her thoughts.
"Wait, Malfoy!"
Reluctantly, he once again opened the door.
"We still need to discuss when we're going to get together for it."
With gritted teeth, he ground out, "We've already done your portion."
x
Cautiously Hermione declared, "I figured as much."
Hermione sucked in a breath of air. From what she had gathered or concluded, she and Malfoy were beginning their assignment on Veritaserum before she had passed out.
She correctly linked his sudden behavior to their little 'experiment' with the dangerous potion.
"But you haven't tried the potion yet, Malfoy. To be able to write Snape's essay properly, you must witness the potion's effects through both observation and firsthand experience."
"And I suppose you have all you need about firsthand experience?" He sneered.
She winced at the malice in his words, but still continued and managed to regain her composure.
Answering truthfully she said, "Yes, I do actually. Pain is something hard to forget. But I need observations, Malfoy."
x
Pain, was that really it?
It didn't seem that she would back down that easily.
"Have it your way. We'll do it Saturday, the common room."
He shut the door, adding finality to his words.
x
She breathed a sigh of relief.
But not for long, Saturday came quickly as Hermione sped through her missed assignments at record-setting pace. She wanted no distractions in order to focus on Malfoy completely.
Not wanting to let the chance slip away, she was determined to get answers.
She entered their common room with parchment, a quill, and the Veritaserum in her hands.
Seeing Malfoy she quickly stated her intentions, "I hope you know I am going to find out what happened Monday to make you avoid me."
"I am not 'avoiding' you" he air-quoted the words, "I simply ignore certain hypocritical muggle-borns who think they know better just because they're swotty little know-it-alls!"
His response sent her reeling. Did he really think of her that way?
But that wasn't the point to their meeting. She needed answers now.
"Drink. And I'll forget about that little spiel for now, but you'd do better to remember the truce" She tossed a vial to him.
x
So thhir truce was still in effect. Good to know before he made a complete ass of himself.
Glaring at her, he swallowed the contents.
"Don't regret anything, Granger, because it will be your fault for wanting to know."
"I won't"
She began by asking him routine questions that Snape had recommended they ask in order to maintain uniformity and to make sure that the potion was working.
Malfoy answered the questions quickly and honestly, as was expected.
Pushing the papers aside, she looked him in the eye. He met her gaze and stared back.
"Tell me what I said Monday evening to make you so 'annoyed' as you put it?"
"I asked you if you thought—if you thought I was a Death Eater." He closed his eyes, "And you said yes."
She broke their gaze.
Draco Malfoy was cornered. He knew what would happen if he didn't answer truthfully if at all, so he gave her the truth. The bloody damned truth.
Although, he had to admit, seeing the conflicting emotions flitting across her face was slight recompense for the pain he felt when he heard it from her lovely lips. Lips that were not meant to slander or utter a single word against humankind's innate goodness. Lips that were supposed to ease his fears, but instead confirmed them.
He still berated himself for asking her that question.
x
Once Hermione found her voice, she looked up at him in shock. The only emotion that was neutral to her supposed answer.
"That's not true," she half-cried out at him.
"Veritaserum, remember?"
"It can't be, can it?"
"It is. It also seems that the Veritaserum is wearing off, which means that my firsthand experience is done with."
"Is that why you called me a hypocrite?"
"I'm not obligated to answer that anymore, Granger."
"But I don't! I don't believe that you're evil, Malfoy. No one is, not really, except for possibly Voldemort. But you aren't him... you're far from it"
"Obviously, you know yourself less than you thought. Though you are right, I'm not him, but to you... I'm like him."
He left.
She didn't want to cry. She didn't want to believe that she was indeed hypocritical. She didn't want to think about the subject any further.
So she did what she was comfortable with, homework. She finished the Veritaserum essay with a less than Hermione-grade effort and that was that, and she didn't care.
But of course she did care.
She cared about Malfoy's reaction and she cared about rectifying it.
x
Dumbledore eyed the professors and they eyed him back.
The meeting was unexpected and no one had a clue what it was about, except for the Headmaster himself and the person who called his attention to the matter, Professor Trelawney.
"I have called you all here to discuss our Heads, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy."
The professors were immediately troubled by the topic.
"Something must be done."
...
Quite sorry by the delay (almost a year!), but it couldn't be helped. It was a hassle being without internet for months. But it's back. Yay for me. I hope this was worth the wait.