What's Best For Her

Let's Play A Game

Hermione awoke the next morning with a stuffy nose and puffy eyes. After Draco had left last night, she pulled herself off the bed and got up to take a shower, trying to scrub any scent of him left on her skin. "How could i be so stupid" she thought after the third round of scrubbing her body clean. She stepped out of the shower and quickly dried her hair. She ripped the sheets from the bed, threw them to wash and replaced them with new. Collapsing onto her freshly made bed thinking again how she could be so stupid. She fought against Voldemort for gods sakes, she broke into Gringotts and rode a dragon, she suffered at the hands of Bellatrix and lived to tell the tale. And yet here she was, with a hole in her chest where Draco once was. Feeling like an idiot for loving someone who could never love her back properly. Crooks found her a while later crying herself to sleep still wrapped in her towel. Sleep barely came. She stood up most of the night dealing with the pain but also growing furious. How dare he treat her that way. How dare her reduce what they had into something so trivial and meaningless. Her last thought before sleep finally took her being one way or another she'd show Draco malfoy exactly what he's missing.

****

The sun began to rise and Hermione threw the pillow over her face. She had spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, barely getting three hours of sleep. With crookshanks meowing for his breakfast already and swiping at her face under the pillow she decided to begin her day. She got out of bed and walked towards the kitchen. "Yes yes, i know crooks, the chicken one" she opened the can of cat food,placing it into his bowl. She finally got her familiar to stop meowing and gave him a scratch behind his ears for being such a good boy. Putting a cup of coffee to brew she bustled around her small prefects room trying to ignore the gaping hole in her chest. Thanks to Ginny's hair charm she taught Hermione over the summer she was finally able to get control of her once bushy hair easily."Crinus Muto" She wished her wand towards her hair, now causing it to flow down her back in gentle waves, taking a bobby pin and pinning the right side away from her face. She even found the time to put makeup on this morning. Just two swipes of mascara, a dusting of blush and a pass of her favorite cherry lip gloss.

"You are not fit for my world. Astoria is"

She winced and jerked her lipgloss down her chin. She looked at herself in the mirror wiping the mess and held her face high. No one would even be able to tell she spent her night a blubbering mess she thought, tears slowly building behind her eyes. Her heart was completely shattered but she had classes to get through, friends to see and sell to that she was okay and definitely not dealing with any trauma from the war. The show must go on no matter the hurt or pain she felt. She knew what she signed up for when she first allowed Draco into her life. She knew that even after the war he was still a pompous arsehole. But in their stolen moments of bliss and pleasure she somehow fell for him despite it all. The nights he came to her after drinking with Theo and Blaise, or whenever Astoria was getting on his nerves. They healed each other's wounds in hushed words and long nights exploring each other's bodies. She knew it was stupid. She knew that being his secret could never work in her favor. But Hermione was done with thinking so in-depth about everything. She wanted to feel free, be reckless. She had spent the past six years of her life doing the exact opposite. She just wanted this, she wanted this... with him. And she knew that she had to have left her mark on him. With the way he looked at her, his eyes, so warm and honest. But in true Malfoy fashion he'd gone and mucked it all up. As Hermione grabbed her bag and headed for the door, brushing any stray tears away she thought to herself, two can play that game.

Breakfast came and went. The Gryffindor table full of excited first years droning on about their classes and such. Hermione gave up the act of golden girl after the third Hogwarts: A History book was passed her way to sign. "NO Alfred I will not take a photo with you, I will NOT sign your book, and I will most certainly NOT be writing to your mother!". She shooed the rest of them away and turned back to Ginny and Neville. Desperately wishing Ron or Harry were here. At least with them around some of the attention could be taken off of her. She hadn't dared look up to the table across the hall. She couldn't stomach another desperate Astoria hanging all over Malfoy. So she had finished her beans and toast and left as quickly as she came. Hurrying along to her first class in hopes to have a few minutes of quiet to herself.