Chapter XII - The Astronomy Tower

It was late Thursday evening and Hermione was walking back to the Gryffindor common room. She had been doing work in the very back of the library, next to the Restricted Section as it was nearly silent and therefore a great study space. It also was a perfect place if you were hiding from someone, because it got very little foot traffic. As it happened, Hermione was indeed avoiding someone.

She had been wary of putting herself in any situation in which she could run into Draco. For ever since that Monday afternoon, Draco had tried to apologize on numerous occasions. Tried, because he never got around to saying much in front of her however, as Hermione never gave him the chance. Whenever Draco tried to talk to her, she would just look the other way and more or less run off. She knew that it really wasn't the most adult way of going about the situation, but she just couldn't deal with it any other way.

Draco had never approached her when she was with anyone else; he seemed to know better than try to talk to her when she was with Ginny or Harry. But whenever Draco did try and talk to her, she just ignored his soft, pleading tone and walked on. She never looked at his face; she didn't think that she would be able to bear it if she saw his expression— it hurt enough as it was. What did she need to hear? Some lame excuse as to why he hadn't shown up? For all she knew, he had been with some other girl—and her stomach promptly turned over.

Though the week had been difficult to get through, she knew that nothing distracted her better than her studies. And since she was very up-to-date with her revision due to the Draco Situation, she didn't have much to do for the weekend, which wasn't good at all. She had decided that she'd just ask Ginny for something to do, maybe helping her study for her O.W.L's if things got desperate. Anything would do, she just needed to have something planned. Hermione desperately needed something to occupy her time.

In her free moments, her mind wandered to Draco, which is why she had been limiting said time. Then, for the umpteenth time, Hermione thought that maybe something had been the matter, that maybe there had been some legitimate reason as to why Draco hadn't met her. Maybe he had a good excuse. But then she remembered Ginny's advice: if he really cared, he wouldn't have stood you up without any notice. Have respect for yourself; you can do better.

After Ron's duplicitous behavior, Hermione's footing with the opposite gender had been seriously shaken. She wasn't sure of herself, or what she was supposed to do. After Draco's desertion, she felt like this was just a sign, letting her know that she wasn't supposed to have a happy ending, which was why she relied so heavily on Ginny's advice. Ginny was her best friend, who knew her better than anyone. Hermione was past the point of knowing what to do, and had just decided to rely on Ginny's judgment, because the red-head had her best interests at heart.

Hermione sighed. It was all too confusing and all she wanted to do was move on and forget that it had ever happened. It was just too much. She had promised that Ron would be the last one to hurt her. She didn't know if she could go through any more rejection; there's only a certain amount a person can take and Hermione wondered if she was nearing the limit. It certainly felt like it.

Hermione clutched the strap of her bag and peered around the corridor coming up to the Portrait of the Fat Lady. A pang went through her when she remembered sneaking back into the tower last weekend, though the situation was much different.

Thankfully, the coast was clear and Hermione climbed through the portrait hole. It was seven o'clock and the common room wasn't that crowded. There were a few students chatting softly, but it seemed that the majority of Gryffindors were capitalizing on the fact that that they still had an hour or so in the corridors left.

Hermione sat down in her favorite squishy arm chair by the fire. The warm flames heated her extremities and she let her mind wander. She closed her eyes and felt herself drift off a bit.

"Hermione, you awake?"

Hermione slowly opened her eyes and was brought back by the sound of Parvati Patil's voice. It seemed that some time had passed because the common room was completely empty now. Parvati was standing in front of her chair with a letter in her hands, looking quizzically at her. Hermione uncurled herself from the chair and straightened up, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She never had anything against Parvati, but her relationship with her fellow dorm mate had become strained due to Parvati's close friendship with Lavender over the last couple months. But that was all over now. She blinked sleepily and said,

"Just barely, what's up?"

"An owl just came for you; it was right outside our dormitory window. Lavender saw it and I let it in. It's addressed to you."

She held out the letter and Hermione took it, noticing her name in unfamiliar handwriting. If she hadn't seen the hand writing, she might have thought that maybe Hagrid was writing to her again. She took the letter curiously and tapped it to magically break the seal with her wand.

Hermione—

I know that you probably despise me right now, and I won't deny you that right.

At the time, I thought that it was for the best if I didn't show up. I thought that distancing myself from you was better for you. You see, there's something that I didn't tell you that made me not come that night.

Please, know that I never meant to hurt you. I know now that I did. I have never been good at this sort of thing—but I really do care about you. I have never, nor will I ever, lie to you. I wish I could turn back the clock and take back what I did, but I know I can't.

I will be up in the Astronomy Tower at eleven o'clock tomorrow night if you want to hear what I have to say. If not, I won't bother you again.

Draco

Hermione stared at the letter in a daze.

"Thanks, Parvati. I'm just going to go…"

She trailed off as she got up from her chair, leaving Parvati standing there by the fire in the empty common room. Hermione made her way in a dazed manner up to stairs to the girl's dormitory. Hermione didn't know what to make of the letter—she didn't want to theorize anymore, it was just too much. However, somewhere in the back of Hermione's mind, something clicked into place, though she couldn't yet work out what.

Her feet took her instinctively to Ginny. She found the red-head in her dormitory and without any preamble, thrust the letter into the girl's face. Ginny, who had been reading, put down her book and gave Hermione an odd look, but took the letter from her trembling hands.

"What's this?"

She didn't answer, but just curled herself up into a ball at Ginny's feet.

After a long moment, Hermione pushed her hair out of her face and peered over to her friend. A little crease had appeared on her best-friend's forehead.

"Well…." Ginny sighed and set Draco's words down on the bed cover.

"Talk about enigmatic."

Hermione huffed and closed her eyes. After a heavy moment, Hermione said,

"I have to go meet him, don't I?"

"No, you don't have to do anything." Ginny said briskly. "But," she paused, "I think it might be worth just hearing what the ferret has to say. If you don't you'll always wonder. It's one of those situations where you might just always go on wondering what might have been…" Ginny trailed off and her eyes unfocused a bit.

Hermione was lost in thought too. She had a nagging, uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. She felt that Ginny may be right. If she never talked to him again, she would never know, and her curious side to her personality would never let her recover. And, in a secret part of Hermione that she wished wasn't there, she knew that she was more attached to Draco than she thought was healthy. Maybe it had been part of the perfume's magic, but she knew that she couldn't have gone on with ignoring Draco completely. She had been slipping, and the letter was all the encouragement that she needed. She was going to give in to the side of her that didn't want to forget about Draco completely.

Hermione sat up, a bit pink in the face. Her heart started beating uncomfortably again, and she knew it was because she had made up her mind. She would see Draco; she was excited, possibly against her better judgment but all the same.

Time passed quickly for Hermione the next day, and not in the usual way. Normally, Hermione had to be dreading something, like an exam, for time to speed up. Hermione wasn't dreading the meeting, she was just anxious to see Draco and finally talk to him. Above all, she just wanted to see him. Her resolve hadn't been holding up, and she knew deep down in a place she didn't want to admit to herself, that she might just be falling for him. After what had transpired in the Room of Requirement last weekend, Hermione knew that she had taken Draco into her heart, in a manner that she hadn't expected, or even thought was possible. She should have known better, she had a tendency of diving head-first into these things. For better or for worse, that's just how it was for her. Hermione knew she'd forgive him, and agreeing to meet him had solidified that in her mind.

During Friday's classes, Draco kept to his word and didn't try to speak to her. She did, however notice that he was staring at her a lot, and it took all her will power not to do the same. She did sneak glances at him, whenever she thought that she could without being caught— in the Great Hall, or in-between classes in the hallways. And when their eyes did meet, she gave him a soft smile and would look away. She hoped that was enough, to let him know that she wasn't just going to forget about him.

Hermione was hyper aware of him, and he was always, always in the back of her mind. She allowed herself these moments because she knew that Draco was sorry, and that she would forgive him. She couldn't think what he needed to tell her was, but she had already resolved to forgive him, and hope that they could be together. It certainly sounded like Draco wanted that from what he had written.

Dinner passed in its usual manner. She sat by Harry, Ginny and Dean but didn't really pay attention to their conversation. She was preoccupied with her own thoughts. After dinner, she tried to distract herself by reading up in her dormitory. And although she did manage to read a chapter or two, she couldn't have answered a single question about it in class, because the material had just slipped through without leaving any impression whatsoever.

And then, it was time. She got up from her bed and made her way out of the common room.

Hey there people!

I'd first like to thank each and every one of you for sticking with me this long. I think my writing has improved since I wrote the first chapter (10 months ago), and this is my first ever story too. I think there will be maybe two or three chapters left in this story. I have 75% of the rest of this chapter done, but I thought I would just post this, and update the rest very, very soon. So, to summarize: thank you readers, we're almost done with this story, and I'll update soon with the rest of this chapter.

Also... review please! It really makes my day, and keeps me sane knowing that you guys like where this is heading.