A Wonderful Fortuitous Love

26. Everything Changes

His cold eyes met hers for a split second as he passed, as if to just dare her to try and stop him. Hermione being Hermione, never passed up a challenge – she grabbed his arm.

Draco shoved her off with so much force she stumbled.

"What happened?" And she was surprised just how shrilled and concerned her voice was.

"Nothing," he snarled.

"Draco, stop!" Narcissa said again, recovering from her shock and quickly coming over to them. "Just where do you think you're going? You can't leave!"

But he could. Now that Draco was a good distance from everybody else, there was nothing to stop him from using Apparition.

And that was exactly what he did.

There was a deafening silence. Hermione's heart was hammering erratically against her ribs and she could hear the thumping behind her ears. She tore her eyes away from the spot Draco had last been and looked behind her. A few others were still staring, open-mouthed, at the place Draco Apparated from. Some picked up the chatting again, only this time it wasn't happy, but tense and whispered and barely audible. Blaise had two other men by his side, one checking his jaw, which left a crimson stain all the way down to his shirt, while Pansy looked on, still swaying on the spot and much less happier than she was before. Narcissa was watching Hermione.

When their eyes locked, she came over, her expression unclear.

"Hermione..." She hesitated, apparently uncertain about what she was going to say next. "I – I think it would be best if you spoke with him."

There was not much that frightened Hermione anymore, what with everything she'd been through with Harry and Ron. She'd seen dangers others couldn't imagine. So it didn't make sense for Draco Malfoy to frighten her. "What... what makes you think he'll listen to me?"

Narcissa smiled, but it was weak. "Look me in the eyes, Hermione, and tell me the thought to chase him hasn't crossed your mind."

It was something Dumbledore might say, had he still been around, and because of this it was hard not to stare at her in awe.

"Go," she whispered.

Before she could Apparate, however, Hermione caught sight of red. Derek was against the wall, staring at her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Narcissa had gone over to Blaise. Hermione briskly walked over to him, eyeing his bleeding nose.

"What happened?" she hissed.

"He got an earful of nothing less than what he deserved," he snapped. "I didn't say anything the twat didn't already know."

She seethed and turned on her heel when Derek seized her wrist.

"You're not going after him, are you?"

Hermione counted to three before she answered. "Yes."

"Why? He doesn't care about you as much as you do about him."

She pulled herself from his grip.

"You used to always call him Malfoy, remember?" he called after her. Hermione refused to turn. "And now it's Draco. If I were Weasley, I'd be worried."

She left with a crack, his words echoing through the ballroom.

***

Hermione appeared in the flat just in time to catch Draco walk from the kitchen, holding his right hand closely to his chest in a bloody messy of paper towels.

"What happened?" she gasped, feeling like this particular question was being repeated a lot tonight. "You hand wasn't bleeding before!"

He shot her a look so venomous it would have had a grown man running.