Chapter 14

The Christmas holiday finished too quickly for anyones liking. But not to Hermione's. Since that day at the park, Draco had been very distant with her. They had seen each other once since then and even then he was distant. She was scared that it was because of her knowing what she knew. She tried to let him know that she didn't think of what he did in a negative way but he would either pretend not to hear her, or change the subject in a not very subtle way.

Hermione's goodbye to her parents was much the same way as at the beginning of the year. Except that, this time, Hermione was anxious to see Draco. She quickly flooed to her dorm but the room was empty. She checked Draco's cupboards but there was nothing in there. He obviously hadn't come yet. She quickly started putting away her clothes, frequently checking her watch. 'Why isn't he here yet?' Was the question that constantly rang through her mind. She kept her mobile in her pocket at all times in case he rang. But there was no phone call or text. At 5pm, Draco finally made an appearance.

He walked in to their room happily, dragging his suitcase behind him.

"Hey gorgeous," he said by way of greeting.

"Hi," Hermione said happily. Her happiness from seeing him had drained away her anger at him. He walked up to her and kissed her passionately before letting go a little too quickly. He turned to walk back towards his cupboard when Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled him back to her. This time she was the one kissing him. She tried to put everything into that kiss. She tried to tell him that she cared about him. She tried to tell him that she was afraid of losing him. She tried to tell him..that she loved him. When they broke apart, Hermione tried to look into his eyes but Draco was looking at anywhere but at her.

"Draco – " she began only to be cut off by him.

"Hey I'm really hungry, I haven't eaten all day. Want to join me?" he asked cheerfully, already making his way to the door.

"Draco – " she began again, only to be cut off yet again by him.

"Mi, let's go eat. Please," he said pleading softly. Hermione stared at him for a few seconds.

"Ok," she said and led the way to the door. She realised that she had to be delicate with Draco. If he was not ready to talk about the past, than she would not force him.

Hermione's plan had not been going smoothly. But this had absolutely nothing to do with Draco and entirely to do with herself. She had become obsessed with finding out. She was losing her mind. It was like she was back in Hogwarts with her thirst for knowledge. She was so crazy about this that she would just randomly slip the topic into conversation. For example, just the other night, they were out with Lucy and Blaise, watching a quidditch match when she turned to Draco and said, "Hey don't you miss shopping for quidditch equipment in Diagon Alley? So tell me more about Diagon Alley Draco." The silence from Draco was deafening. Two more comments like that later, he had excused himself and not returned to the game. Not even returned to their room until after Hermione had fallen asleep, around 3am.

Draco didn't know how to handle this situation. He didn't want to do anything that would ruin what he had with Hermione but what he was keeping was not easy to talk about. He wished that she would stop pressuring him. But this was something that needed time for him to say. He was not proud.

One night, about a week after the quidditch match, Draco walked into their room to find Hermione laying on her bed, with a book in her hand, reading.

"Hey," he said quietly, standing by the door with his hands in his pockets.

"Hi," she said closing her book. She waited for him to speak. He shifted from one foot to the other.

"Mi...can we just...talk about other things?" he said avoiding her eyes. She slowly got up from her bed and walked over to him. She put her hands on his cheeks, forcing him to look in her eyes. When he finally held her gaze, she leaned in and kissed him. His arms slowly circled her waist, pulling her close to him. She moved her arms around his neck holding onto him tightly.

"Thank you," he whispered when they broke apart. She smiled softly at him and pulled him onto her bed. They lay together, not talking, wrapped in each others arms for some time.

"You know you can tell me Draco," she said quietly.

"I know," he whispered. He waited a bit more trying to decide how to begin when Hermione cut him off.

"So why did you do it Draco? Oh admit it, you did it so you could shop some more." Though she was trying to joke about it, for some reason, it triggered an anger in Draco. He viciously pulled himself out of her embrace. Hermione was uncertain of what was happening. She sat up on the edge of the bed.

"So what do you think then Hermione? Do you think I did it for glory? Huh?! Do you think I did it to create a place where I could spend my oh so monstrous fortune? Well?!" he yelled.

Hermione froze in her seat.

"I didn't do it for any of that," he bellowed. "I did it to save my own skin. To save my fucking parents. I wasn't being a hero Hermione! I was being a fucking coward. You got that? Everytime you asked me I just felt more and more ridiculous. Everytime you made a joke about it you made me so angry because you reminded me of the time when I was a loser. I was an asshole. I hate myself for what I did then. Don't you understand that?!" he yelled pulling at his hair.

"I don't think any of those things about you Draco. I never have and I never will."

"Oh yeah? You think I don't see the way you look at me all superior and what not? I know what I did then wasn't right. And I don't need you to keep picking at my past."

This time Hermione decided to not answer. She waited for his anger to cool, but it didn't seem like it would happen anytime soon. She stood up to walk to him but he put his hands up halting her in her tracks.

"Just don't," he said and before Hermione could say or do anything he turned and walked out of the door, slamming it for good measure. Hermione's first impulse had been to follow him but she stopped herself. She had to let him go. She knew that he would eventually come back. She didn't expect an apology from him, for he had done nothing wrong. Quite the contrary, she was the one that owed him one. But overall, Hermione had a lot to think about. She felt awful for the way she acted. She laid on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She was unable to prevent the tears that had welled up in her eyes.

She didn't know how much time had passed, when she suddenly woke up. Her eyes felt puffy and scratchy bec ause of her falling asleep, crying. She looked around the room. It was still dark. Her eyes suddenly landed on a shadow by the door. At first, she felt her heart beating in her throat. Then she relaxed, thinking it was Draco. She sat up in bed and held her hand out.

"Draco," she said softly. The shadow moved, though not with Draco's usual grace. Hermione squinted her eyes, trying to see his face.

"Draco?" she questioned this time. The shadow laughed. Hermione felt chills travel all the way down her spine.

"What's the matter honey? Didn't you miss me?" said the shadow in a sickly sweet voice.

"what are you doing here?" she asked, her voice trembling. Hermione faltered for a moment, when the shadow moved into the light. The face did not belong to who she had initially thought of but there was no mistaking this voice. And she definitly had not missed him. He came right up to her face and Hermione smelt a strong stench of alcohol. But why was his voice so much like that of the person that she never ever wanted to see again?

"You're coming with me," he said throatily. Before Hermione had anymore time than to shout for help, he had grabbed her arm and apparated them away. When they landed, Hermione had just enough time to register that they were outdoors, when she felt a sharp pain on her head. Then, she knew no more.

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't written for a while. I've been on holiday lol..This chapters a little shorter than the others, but I think its good :) So what do you all think? Who do you think is the guy? There's some major clues in there..Let me know of your guesses. Also thank you to alllll of you who have added me/my story on your alert/fav lists..aaandd a very very special thanks to all of you who have reviewed..I thank all of you from the very bottom of my heart

Disclaimer: Unfortunatly I do not own harry potter, the lovely miss JKR does!