Chapter 6-Reluctantly Reunited
Hermione's POV:
Desperately clinging to my books, I bounded hastily down the uneven stone steps towards Hagrid's hut. My breathing came heavy and ragged due to my concern for being late to Care of Magical Creatures. This wasn't good. It was only my first day back to lessons and I was running dangerously late. Terrifying thoughts and images began to pile up inside my mind. Hagrid's deeply disappointed expression, shock mixed with curiosity lingering in the wide eyes of my classmates, the sympathetic but annoying glances from Harry and Ron. I hated being the centre of attention when the motives for it were simply gossip. But more so I loathed receiving kind words of consideration from almost strangers; especially when it wasn't me who needed it. It was my parents.
Preoccupied with the worries that were gathering in my head like children to ice cream, I forgot to focus on carefully landing my feet onto the riskily steep and jagged cobbled steps. My right foot fell on an awkward angle as my toes desperately tried to hug the sharp edge of the step. But my ankle twisted to the side, causing me to tumble down when my balance un-expectantly failed. I fell sideways-towards the vertical grassy hill in which the cobbled steps had been laid. On my speedy decent down, I managed to keep a firm grip on my books in one hand while the other darted out to prevent me from smacking my face into the spiky grass below. The impact injured my elbow, making it feel like the bones inside were snapping under the tremendous sudden weight. When I was on the ground, I almost swayed too far over into a roll before I remembered to dig my free hand and feet firmly into the soft ground to steady myself. I stared shakily at the mushy earth while I waited for my muscles to work again. Then as I finally sat upright in shock, I wearily cast my nervous brown eyes around me. But no one had seen the mortifyingly humiliating endeavour. With a deeply relieved sigh, I clambered back onto my feet and glanced down to examine myself. To add to my already horrid morning appearance, I was sporting a ghostly white scrape to the knee, a thick mud stain on my now crumpled skirt and the palm of my hand began to sting like tiny ice needles due to the cuts and dents there. Flustered, I made an attempt at wiping away the disgusting brown mark before I went into public; the entire time I was all too aware of my tardiness. I felt the tears prickling at my eyes as if tiny people were jabbing at the back of the white orbs with painfully pointy sticks. A few drops of clear liquid escaped and began to trickle down my soft cheeks; excitingly sprinting to achieve freedom. Hurriedly dragging my hand across the surface of skin underneath my eyes, I let out a tiny whimper. I wasn't supposed to be like this. I was Hermione Jean Granger, Gryffindor witch and had been to hell and back during my four short years at Hogwarts. So how was it that an idiotic muggle obstacle had degraded me to this weak, emotional wreck; constantly blubbering at the slightest provocation?
But in reality it wasn't an idiotic obstacle. That would indicate that if I put my best efforts into it, then I could overcome it. But that wasn't possible.
As my eyes scanned the trees ahead of me, I saw that Hagrid had yet to join the small group of students that formed his class. This calmed me slightly but my pride was still injured. I had never been late before. So I composed myself, only the pale ghost of tears visible, and jogged down the remaining steps.
As I reached the end of the steps and joined the group, every pair of eyes fell to rest on me. Most held shock and others held concern. A sudden wave of anxiety washed over me and caused my chest to tighten. My hands grasped tensely at my books and I subconsciously clenched my jaw. I became far too aware of the deep bags under my eyes. Also my frizzy hair-which had been impossible to tame this morning after a delayed wake up-felt heavier and thicker on my head; reminding me that it was there to embarrass me. Because of my situation at home, I had found comfort in being secluded when I returned to school. For this reason, not many people knew of my return. Surely they would be buzzing with questions; prepared to compromise my sanity and emotions in exchange for gossip. Although Harry and Ron had hurried over to stand by my side, I still felt vulnerable under their sceptical stares. But I felt even worse when Malfoy sauntered forward and opened his arrogant mouth; his minions following eagerly behind him with stupid grins plastering their faces. I watched him with weary eyes and a thick feeling of doom layered in my stomach. He was taller than I remembered with thicker arms and shoulders. His blonde hair swept forward to almost cover his eyes. And his facial features were much more refined.
"Where've you been Granger? Skipping classes is very unlike you; doesn't it go against your teacher's pet religion?" He raised a thin, blonde eyebrow and smirked. Jabbing my chin upwards, I tried to muster up some courage while I hitched my collection of books higher in my arms and straightened my posture.
"It's none of your business Malfoy." I stated simply as I tried to avoid an argument, my eyes never leaving his face. I knew that I dreadfully wanted to see a shred of evidence to prove that he was more like the person I had seen at the Yule Ball than this egotistical prat; even though deep in my core I knew that this was all he was. It was programmed into every corner of my brain. It haunted every aspect of his unnaturally pale features.
"That's a bit unfair." He pouted mockingly. "Not feeling very friendly today?"
"It may not seem that way to you, just because you're a spoilt brat and daddy gives you everything you sob for. Well I'm not your father so I won't be succumbing to your childish demands. " I spat. Then I saw a flicker of anger in his grey eyes which indicated that I had struck a nerve. But his thin mouth remained tightly shut. All eyes belonging to the observing class widened and turned to watch Malfoy. He stayed silent.
Thinking that he had nothing more to insult me with, I made to walk away with Harry and Ron following close by my side. I felt rather pleased with the turn out of that situation.
"We all thought that you had been kicked out of school Granger. People were saying Umbridge had discovered that you stole your magic from a real you being a mudblood, it seemed to be the obvious answer." Malfoy purred viciously behind me. Clearly any pleasantries that had scurried to his surface on the night of the Yule Ball had vanished, leaving him bitter and rude towards me once again.
That hurt. Of course it did. But I intended to continue forward and ignore him, maintaining my pride. After all, I had always been the mature one. Ron however seemed to have a different idea. A throaty growl bubbled in his throat as he dropped his books-allowing them to plummet to the floor to be abandoned-and lunged at Malfoy; appearing to forget his wand. Whipping around at the sound of danger, my wild frizzy hair flung around my face and shrouded my vision. As soon as I swiped it away with an irritated hand, I saw what was happening.
Without a moment's hesitation, I equally dropped my books and my hands shot out to grab Ron's robes. We didn't need a fight. Harry was much slower than I was but he eventually took a fistful of Ron's robes and pulled.
"Ronald, stop it. Stop it now!" I demanded, hoping to subdue him. It had no effect. Malfoy puffed out his chest as he watched, seeing that mine and Harry's grips were slackening. The small crowd gawped as Ron's smooth black robes slipped through my fingers like silk, leaving Harry to stumble forward as Ron charged again. His anger rolled off him in waves; crashing murderously around inside his head before spilling out of his ears after finally riling him up. My raven-haired friend had no choice but to release Ron-otherwise he would have ended up with his face pressed into the thick mud beneath him. A surprised Malfoy at first staggered backwards trying to get away from the red-head's flying fists and grabbing claws. But once he had gathered his wits, his arm shot out to punch Ron in the face as he neared. This caused Ron to stumble back whilst cupping his palm around his left cheek. A slight cry escaped my gaping mouth as I watched. Malfoy, taking his advantage, pounced on Ron while he was nursing his attacked face. Snaking an arm around Ron's head, Draco chuckled darkly and pulled. The blonde Slytherin had him trapped in a head-lock and Ron began to tug pointlessly at the stronger boys arm. They almost fell to the floor in their struggle. I rapidly pulled out my wand and pointed it at the pair, focusing my aim on Draco.
"Malfoy!" I screeched. "Let him go now!"
The blonde was taken aback as his gaze shot up to my face. There was a slight glimmer in his silvery eyes as he-almost nervously-watched my steady wand.
We stared each other down for a while-his grip never softening and my wand never faltering-before I saw a large shadow creep over me. The other students all took an innocent step back as they glanced up at the shape behind me. I sighed deeply, realising what was happening, and reluctantly lowered my wand. I didn't turn around to see the disappointed face of my teacher and dear friend-Hagrid. This was the face that had haunted me from behind my eyelids this morning as I had raced to class. I had managed to mostly repel the image then so I wasn't about to look willingly upon it now. On the other hand, Malfoy and Ron were directly facing him and they instantly separated. Ron stared at the ground, his face burning a bright scarlet, while Draco held his head high; almost challenging Hagrid. I heard a deep sigh of sadness come from him and I gnawed at my lower lip.
"You three, detention for fighting." He mumbled miserably. I didn't need to see his face to feel the pain. It hit me like a stunning spell in the chest as soon as his tone registered in my brain.
I glared at Malfoy, willing him to burst into flames and shrivel up into a thick pile of black ash right before my aggravated eyes. But of course, he did not. He did however glance up to acknowledge me as I stared angrily at his pale, refined features. His storm grey eyes were cold and held nothing. It began to make me feel uncomfortable so I found myself wanting to break the contact. I clenched my jaw and sucked in a lengthy breath to display my determination. But as his intimidation eventually over-powered my pride, my gaze fell to rest on the floor; defeated. Stupid, egotistical, bitter, relentless, rude prat.
Draco's POV:
Rushing into the warm Slytherin common room, I didn't stop to offer anyone a greeting. Not even Blaise Zabini. The room was full of people chattering loudly in huddles; sprawled across the carpeted floor and the luxurious couches. The normally glowing fire wasn't on so the only light in the large room was coming from a collection on dim candles that were dotted around on tables and shelves. The moonlight from the dark sky outside dove deep into the lake and came streaming in through the window, reflecting an eerie turquoise glow around the room. Each of these things I made an effort to ignore. But they flashed before my eyes as I heatedly hurried towards the spiral stairs that would lead me to my dormitory. A few worried glances were cast my way, but no one made an effort to physically come to my aid. I was fine with this because I was in no mood for social interaction right now.
When I reached the top of the stairs, I stormed forward and threw open the door to my dorm. I froze in my tracks when I found Crabbe and Goyle perched on Goyle's bed noisily munching on stolen treats, my jaw clenched and my eyes twitching with irritation. They also froze to stare back at me; Crabbe with a slice of cake stuffed in his motionless mouth and Goyle hesitantly chewing on a liquorice wand. I stuck my arm out behind me and placed my palm flat against the door to prevent it from closing after me.
"Get out."
They continued to stare questioningly at me for a while before Crabbe opened his mouth to speak.
"But Dra-"
"GET OUT!" I roared, my stormy eyes practically bulging out of the sockets as I tried to avoid looking at the disgusting mashed up cake that had become visible upon the opening of his lips. Both of them leapt up, food in their grubby hands, and left swiftly.
As soon as they were absent from the room, I slammed the door hard. My palm still rested on the upper section of it with my fingers splayed as I brought my other hand up to massage the bridge of my nose. It was that stupid mudblood Granger. I had only tried to find out where she had been when the fight erupted this morning. But she had started to take snide hits; pounding my brain with her annoyingly sardonic voice and insulting my pride.
The memories flashed behind my eyelids and I lurched myself furiously off the door towards my bed and threw my clenched fist at the wall. The impact of the icy smooth wall against my tender pale skin shot electricity up my arm as the bones inside rattled around. My knuckles throbbed with aching pain but I continued to press my hand against the hard surface. Then leaning my forehead on the wall above my hand, I let out a deep groan. There was just something about Granger that made my blood boil but at the same time made me desire more arguing. Whenever I saw her, it became instinct to hurl insults at her until we finished with a brawl.
Sorry I've taken so long in getting this up but I was on holiday. I'm back now though obviously x) Thanks to the people who reviewed! x