Chapter 6: Draco's Point of View
Draco is tired.
He has been piled with heaps of homework and feels devastated.
He sighs and stuffs his head into his pillow, trying to diminish all the frustration-he doesn't know where the frustration is coming from.
He is scared.
He does not know what is wrong with him.
Ever since he came back from Potions, he felt nervous. Angry. Resentful.
Once again, he does not know what it's coming from.
He thinks about Granger, and her eyes. They are a mix of chocolate brown and golden, a mix that seemed beautiful to Draco.
And hideous at the same time.
He wishes he can delete his history. To turn over a new leaf. To fix everything that had gone wrong. To show the world that he was worthwhile.
He imagines what would happen if he and Potter had become friends. If Potter had shaken his hand when he was extending his hand of friendship.
Potter had rejected it, which was absolutely fine with Draco, for soon he had realized that if he had been friends with him, Draco would be in big trouble with his father, going around making friends with their number one enemy.
He thinks about what good things would've happened. He wouldn't be Hogwart's bad boy bully. He would be friends with Granger, which he wasn't sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
His head tells him its a bad thing, his heart says its a good thing. He isn't sure which one to listen to.
His father would be furious if he found out that Draco had been on talking terms with Granger. He would nearly kill him, not to mention hismother.
Draco sighs again and brings head up from the pillow. He gets up and snatches his homework up and heads to the library.
As he enters the library,Madam Pince giving him her usual suspicious glare.
He rolls his eyes. "Just homework."
He slips into the corridor of books in the back, his usual spot.
Today he sees it is occupied by someone else.
He groans. Not her, He thinks miserably.
"What are you doing here?"
Granger yelps in surprise,nearly falling off the table, her ink quill leaving a giant abstract mark on her long piece of parchment.
"Malfoy! Next time you decide to sneak up on me like that,please give me a heads up!"
"Net time you decide to invade my privacy, give me a fair warning."
"Your privacy?"
"No, my privacy."
"No! I meant your privacy, as in, your privacy!"
"Oh, so you mean your privacy as in, my privacy, not your-"
Granger puts a hand to her forehead. "Forget it! The point is, you just ruined my twelve-foot essay, and I only had one inch left!"
"Oh, I am so sorry, Granger! Is there anything I can do to help?" He says a little bit too dramatically.
"Yes," she says through gritted teeth. "Leave."
"Excuse me?" He raises an eyebrow.
"This is my spot, Granger. Always been my spot."
"There's nobody's spot here, Malfoy. It's a library."
"So?"
"So, I can sit wherever I want."
"Fine! Then I'll sit here, too, to torture you even more!"
"I doubt I'd be affected."
"We'll see."
He pulls a chair only a few feet away from her, and plops down in it to work on his homework.
They sit quietly for a few moments, until Granger slams her hand in frustration. "Will you stop tapping your foot?"
"Why?"
"It's hard for me to concentrate."
"I thought you'd be unaffected."
"Malfoy! Please. Stop. I have to redo my entire essay just because of you."
He looks at her with mock consideration. "Granger, does it look like I care?"
She sighs angrily and bends back into her work.
He does the same, filling in the questions about monkswood and wolfsbane.
He gets stuck on a question, and soon gets very angry at it. "What is wrong with these questions? I'm not Merlin!"
Granger snorts. "No. Definitely not Merlin. No beard, remember?"
"What's the question?" She asks.
"What is the main difference between monkswood and wolfsbane?"
"Potions? That was due weeks ago."
"I'm not all up-tight like you are though."
She straightens. "I am not uptight."
"Sure. Will you help me or not?"
She crosses her arms. "Well, I'm not going to give you a straight answer. Its in the Advanced Potion-Making textbook on page 475."
He gapes at her. "How do you know that?"
She shrugs. "Got it memorized. I'll show you the book," she gets up from the table and Draco follows her to the other empty corridor in the Potions section. She scans the row of books and finally pulls out a large, green book. "Here. It's pretty easy to read, and you'll probably find it-"
She trips from her pile of books she is standing on, slipping on her robe. Without thinking, Draco grabs her waist to steady her,and she clutches his shoulders to balance herself. He finds himself face-to-face with her.
He looks at her. Her golden-brown eyes stare into his gray ones, and Draco feels as if he might just melt inside them. He quickly dismisses the thought.
Granger removes her hands awkwardly. "Er, thanks."
He tries to make the distance between them a little more. "Welcome," he mutters. "Thanks for the book."
"No problem."
"Better get going then."
"Yeah. Getting late," she says grabbing her bag.
"Sorry about messing your essay up," he mumbles.
"Oh,no it's fine. I'll finish it tomorrow when I get the chance."
As she heads out the door, Draco calls back reluctantly.
"Granger."
She looks back. "Yes?"
"Bye," he says lamely.
"Um, bye?"
"Okay." He turns away,face red as he hears the library door close.
Bloody idiot! He thinks to himself. Bye? Seriously?
Madam Pince clears her throat. "Ahem. We are closing in five seconds."
"Yes, Yes. I'm leaving."
He slams the door behind him, very unsatisfied with himself.