Chapter thirteen – Amnesia
Draco helped Hermione out of the carriage as they arrived back at the castle. The night was so dark that none of them could see anything, but they could sense each other's presence.
Their fingers were still intertwined as they walked into the castle. Filch had left the main-door open for them, which Hermione could only imagine he would've had a fit about.
"So I suppose this is where we go our separate ways," Draco said and broke the long-lasting silence. They arrived by the first step of the main staircase. Hermione took a step up, which made her taller than Draco.
"Yes it is." Hermione could feel herself being all red in the face. She probably had been since the kiss, but he wouldn't have been able to notice it until now.
Draco leaned in to kiss her once more, but Hermione pushed herself back.
"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.
"Not here. Suppose anyone sees us."
They both took a glare around the empty hall. "Nobody's up, 'Mione," Draco said and he again attempted to kiss her.
This time Hermione gave in, but only for a few seconds. Their lips had barely brushed each other before she took another step back.
"Goodnight, Draco," she said in a soft tone.
"'Night, 'Mione."
They walked separate ways - he towards the Dungeons, she the Gryffindor common-room where she found Harry and Ron waiting for her.
"Well, look who we have here," Ron grunted at the sight of Hermione in the entrance.
"Nice to see you too, Ron," Hermione spoke in sarcasm. She was tired of Ron and his constant bugging. It surprised her they remained friends.
"So how was the date with Malfoy?"
"Date? Who said anything about a date?" Hermione was shaking. She feared they somehow knew about the kissing.
"Calm down, 'Mione, it was just a joke."
"'Mione? You've never called me that before!" she yelled. "What do you know?!"
Harry and Ron looked both surprised and confused at Hermione's behaviour. None of them said a word. They didn't dare.
Hermione took a deep breath and calmed down. She was getting paranoid.
"Sorry. Er, dinner was fine. It was with Malfoy you know, so I needed to yell a bit. Wasn't meant to hurt you. Goodnight!" Hermione left to her dormitory without looking back.
She lay awake for a long time, just thinking the night through. Had Draco really meant to kiss her? Or had he been under control of the fire-whiskey?
Then it hit her; he had!
He had been so drunk that he hadn't been able to control his own actions. The kiss was just an impulsive thing that meant absolutely nothing, and the words about Dumbledore were obviously lies. He had just tried to impress her – being all tough and important.
Hermione felt stupid for believing he was speaking the truth. She closed her eyes and fell asleep instantly.
"I'm not sure I can take it any more, Harry! She's driving me mental!" Ron complained to his best friend about his girlfriend, Lavender.
"Why don't you just break up with her then?" Harry suggested, stating the obvious.
Ron shook his head quietly." I can't. What should I tell her – 'I won't go out with you any more, you're annoying?'"
Harry started laughing, but then judged from Ron's facial expression that it wasn't the time for jokes.
"Just say you've met someone new."
"Can't. She'll ask me who, and you know how bad I am at lying."
"I'm sure Hermione would do you the favour of pretending to be your girlfriend," Harry said, although he knew she probably wouldn't. This time Ron was the one to burst into laughter.
"You're kidding me, right? Hermione wouldn't do such thing!"
"I wouldn't do what?" Hermione asked as she joined them in the corridors. They were walking towards Potions Monday afternoon.
"Nothi-" Ron said, but Harry cut him off, decided to tell the truth.
"Pretend to be Ron's girlfriend so that he can break up with Lavender." A moment of silence arrived, but was interrupted with chuckles from Hermione.
"Ron's right -I would never do that."
Professor Slughorn made them sit in the same groups as last time and repeat the same Potion because they "had all failed - except of course Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger."
"Hi, Granger," Draco said with a voice that made Hermione doubt if Draco even remembered any thing from Friday night. She felt awkward tension between them, which he obviously didn't. He acted just like he had before – friendly, but not flirty.
"Malfoy," Hermione replied and tried to sound relaxed. It was challenging, though. Inside she was exploding; she wanted to throw herself at his neck and just enjoy his company.
This time they didn't think much about their brewing. They sat quietly and did their jobs.
Draco cut the radish this time.
At the end of class Professor Slughorn once again took a glare at each of the cauldrons.
"Nicely done, Longbottom.. You need to work on that, Zabini, Potter... Great job, Parkinson and Weasly! You are growing on each other, eh?"
Hermione turned her head to look at Pansy and Ron. And just as Slughorn had said the bad tension between them seemed to have gone. They were even smiling at each other, and Pansy gave Ron a friendly push.
Hermione wrinkled her nose.
"Oh, you've done it again. I might need to challenge you a bit more. A step ahead, are we, eh? Have you used my gift card yet?" Slughorn asked.
Hermione nodded. "Yes, Friday night to be exact," she told.
"Oh, I see. Did you enjoy it?"
Even though it was a conversation between Slughorn, Draco and Hermione the entire class were listening in. They all found it insanely exciting that Draco and Hermione had been out together.
"Yes, the food was very delicious," she said, certain she wouldn't satisfy her fellow classmates with any so-called gossip. Slughorn nodded – he seemed satisfied to have given them a good experience.
The professor called the class to an end and left the Dungeons himself.
"Hermione, can I ask you something?" Draco said as he caught up with her.
All the students who had been hurrying to get out all of a sudden froze so that they could follow their conversation.
"Sure, Draco. What do you have in mind?"
"I was just thinking – er - what happened Friday night? I mean, the last thing I remember is ordering dinner with you. Everything after that is just a blur."
Hermione giggled, but also felt a bit disappointed. He actually didn't remember anything from their night out, which she constantly re-played in her mind.
"Yeah, you were pretty drunk too, I must say. It was quite entertaining," she shared. "Well, you had dinner with me, and afterwards we walked through Hogsmeade. We talked about school and so. Nothing interesting," Hermione lied.
"Oh, okay." Draco looked rather disappointed - as had he expected something more to have happened.
Hermione gathered the rest of her things and turned to leave the classroom.
"Oh, one more thing. It's actually quite funny," said Hermione, giggling, when the classroom had emptied.
"Yeah?" Draco looked as if he knew what she was about to say and was excited to her the words escape her beautiful lips.
"You said you had to kill Professor Dumbledore," she laughed. "Such rubbish."
Her laughter echoed as she left the room. Draco looked more doubtful than ever.
As February approached Quidditch practice took up more and more of the trio's lives.
Harry demanded the entire team on the field every other day to go through strategies and try out new things. None of the tactics ever succeed, though. They were best in their usual ways.
"Harry - now is the perfect time!" Hermione and Harry were talking as they left the field one night.
"She has a boyfriend, Hermione. I can't just ask her out!" Harry replied. She knew that he was only using Dean as an excuse for not taking Ginny Weasly out for Valentine's Day.
She indeed had a boyfriend, but a terrible one. They were always fighting, but still Ginny couldn't make herself break up with him. Apparently a family-ting, Hermione thought to herself.
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked and joined them on their way back to the castle.
"Nothing," Harry quickly responded. He wouldn't let Ron know that he fancied his baby sister.
"What's up with you, sulky?" Hermione asked at the sight of Ron's wondering face expression. His head seemed to be full of thoughts, which was a rare sight.
"Hm?" he asked, clearly deep into his head. "Oh, nothing. Just wondering about Lavender. With Valentine's Day coming up and all, you know," he explained.
Hermione nodded."Oh yes, indeed I know," she spoke in sarcasm.
"It is about time you get yourself over that Krum fellow and find a new playmate," Ron suggested.
"Playmate? Please, Ronald. Only you would call it a playmate. That is certainly not what I'm looking for."
"Then what are you looking for?"
Hermione felt that the conversation had taken an unexpected turn. She had only rarely discussed her love life with the boys. It was only at the time of Viktor Krum that they had been very curious about it, but since it had been almost like a taboo.
How was she going to explain who her type was when she didn't even know herself? Perhaps it was a ginger boy with plenty of freckles, a warm family and a playful mind. Or maybe it was an ice blond guy with a toned body, an estranged family and a hang for girls and alcohol.
"Well, someone with class. Someone who isn't afraid to show his emotions and let me know what I mean to him," she said after a long time considering her words carefully.
"Oh, well that only excludes the entire school," grinned Harry. He was right. Not many boys at the school had what Hermione was looking for. They weren't mature at all – not even the ones older than her.
"Boys now at days," Hermione sighed.
"You'll find someone, I'm sure," said Harry, trying to cheer up Hermione.
"Thanks, Harry, but I'm in no rush. Education first!" she exclaimed.
The rest of February drowned in rain, which made Quidditch practise a whole lot tougher. Many players preferred spending their Saturdays indoors with a cup of hot chocolate, but Harry practically forced them outside.
When a cold hit Hermione, among many other Gryffindor Quidditch players, she had a talk with Harry and made him reduce practise to only twice a week instead of every day. He wouldn't have one healthy team member left if they continued at this rate.
The 1st March Hermione woke up early only to find out that the trip to Hogsmeade had been cancelled. She therefore spent some hours at the library, catching up on homework and enjoying the silence. There wasn't another student in sight until Neville Longbottom rushed up to her a bit after morning.
"I thought I'd find you here!" he said with a bit of pride in his exhausted voice. His breathing was heavy and uneven from running.
"What's up, Neville?" Hermione asked in confusion.
"It's-" Neville took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "It's- It's Ron. Ron- he's in the- the Hospital Wing," Neville finally spoke. Hermione jumped out of the chair she was seated in and dropped her books to the floor.
"Ron's in the Hospital Wing? Why?"
"I'm not sure. His family and 'Arry's with him now." Hermione left the library with fast footsteps. "Thanks Neville!" she managed to yell, which made the librarian Madame Pince send her a rare hateful look.