So in this chapter we get a little insight into Hermione's relationship with her parents before the war, and how not okay she really is about everything that's happened to her. Maybe Draco underestimated the extent of Hermione's wounds...
R&R (:
It had been a week since the incident with Ron, and Hermione was finally leaving Gryffindor Tower to attend classes again after lunch.
"Are you sure about this? I mean you know that you can still stay upstairs." said Ginny as they made their way to the Great Hall for lunch.
"Yes Ginny, I'm sure. I can't hide from this forever."
Ginny nodded and pushed open the doors. The Great Hall grew quiet at her entrance and Ginny rolled her eyes, "You can continue your own conversations now."
Everyone slowly went back to talking, no doubt about Hermione, not that she really cared at this point.
She went and sat down, and shortly after that the conversation returned a bit more normally, albeit a few people did lean over and whisper how sorry they were.
"So," started Ginny, glancing towards Draco, "Have you talked to -"
"No, I have not."
"But Mione, I really think you should -"
"Well I don't think I should." she snapped. "And I'm done talking about it."
"Well we're not." said Harry as Ginny and Hermione sat down at the table.
"Since when are you on Malfoy's team?"
Harry shrugged, "Since I found out he loved you."
"He doesn't love me."
"That's not true Hermione." said Ginny softly.
"Yes it is." she said, shaking her head, "He broke up with me with absolutely no explanation, but then he decided to show up after Ron...attacked me...and act like he really cared about me."
"He does care about you. And if you would just let him explain to you what he explained to us then -"
"No!" she snapped, "I don't need him, or you for that matter, to explain anything to me. He lied to me, and that's the end of it."
"Lied about what?" asked Harry.
But Hermione was done talking. She took a sip of her pumpkin juice and asked, "Can you pass the butter?"
The rest of her day went by fairly untroubled, although Draco did make a few attempts at getting her to talk to him.
She had studiously ignored him, which drove him absolutely insane, because he wanted nothing more than to at least be able to explain his reasoning, even if it didn't end up making a difference to her.
"What exactly are you trying to prove all of a sudden?" asked Theo, lounging across the couch in the Slytherin Common Room.
"I'm not trying to prove anything." said Draco, not looking up from his book.
"Then why are you chasing after Granger? You broke up with her like you decided was best, so what changed?" asked Blaise.
Draco groaned and slammed his book closed, "Because I can't fucking handle being without her. There? Are you both sufficiently happy now?"
Theo smirked, "It's okay to have feelings for her. We both already knew you did."
Blaise nodded, "And we're glad it wasn't Pansy who you ended up having actual feelings for."
Draco couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his throat. "I don't know what to do. She doesn't want anything to do with me, and not even Weaslette and Potter can convince her to give me a chance to explain."
"Well it's only been a week and a half, maybe she just needs some more time." suggested Blaise.
Draco ran a hand through his hair, "This fucking sucks,"
Theo chuckled, "Nobody said love was easy."
Draco sighed, "I just want her back."
"You'll get her back mate," said Blaise, clapping him on the shoulder before heading up to his room.
Theo looked towards the fire and asked, "Can I tell you something, as a friend, without you ripping my head off?"
"Sure," said Draco warily.
"Granger's had some pretty fucked up shit happen to her, and she really doesn't need you to mess with her head, so if you really do like her, then you should stay with her, but if not you should tell her now." he said, his tone serious.
Draco raised an eyebrow, "What do you know about what happened to her?"
"Doesn't matter," he said, brushing it off, "But she's a nice girl Draco, and you should treat her right."
"I'm trying," he said honestly.
Theo nodded, and stood, "I'm going to head upstairs."
"I'll see you tomorrow."
Theo headed up the stairs, but before he was out of earshot Draco said, "And Theo?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks,"
Theo smirked and nodded, "Just follow my advice would you?"
Draco rolled his eyes but nodded nonetheless, "I will."
It had been the longest two weeks of his life, but he, Ginny, and Harry had come up with a plan that they hoped would work.
"Okay, explain it to me one more time."
"Hermione's going to be walking back up here from the library after I ask her to go back and get my bag, by that time the halls will be empty, and then you'll be able to have her alone, and hopefully explain yourself to her." said Ginny.
Harry nodded, "It should work...just...be honest."
Draco nodded, "I've done quite enough lying."
Ginny patted his hand and asked, "What are you going to do about Lucius and Narcissa?"
He groaned, "That's another problem entirely."
"Well do you really think they'd do something drastic?" asked Harry, immediately worried about his best friends safety.
Draco shrugged, "I don't know. I wouldn't put it past them."
Ginny frowned, "There's no way we're letting them do anything to her."
"Of course not." answered Draco, "But that doesn't mean they aren't going to try."
"We've been up against worse." said Harry, "If you make Hermione happy, there's no way in hell we're going to let your parents mess it up."
Draco was actually grateful to Harry, though he'd Obliviate the memory if he ever said that out loud.
"Thanks,"
Ginny nodded, "Just remember to be down by the library at around nine tonight."
Draco nodded, "Alright, I'll see you guys later."
Draco was nervous. He didn't know what to expect from Hermione. Aside from that, Theo's comment about Hermione having kind of a fucked up past was a bit unsettling, especially since Theo knew, and Draco didn't.
He couldn't imagine Hermione having to go through anything so horrible, only because she was such a beautiful person who didn't deserve bad things to happen to her.
The Ron thing was bad enough, but Theo hadn't been referring to that, because he knew about the rape now - hell everyone would know once the trial came around. Draco had no doubt that it would be in every newspaper for miles around.
He didn't know how Hermione would react to that, and he definitely didn't know how she would react to having to testify, but he knew that she would brush it off and act like it didn't bother her, because that's what she did with everything.
He let his mind wander to Pansy, and how wrong he'd been about her. He had been best friends with her, yet he really didn't know her at all it seemed. She had set up Hermione, in the cruelest way, all to get with Draco. The part that really made him mad was the fact that Pansy didn't even care about him, she cared about his money. If that weren't there, she wouldn't be there either.
He sighed and headed to the stairs leading out of the Dungeons. He was still nervous. Maybe more so now that he was getting closer to confronting her again.
He wanted her to react positively, but he was pretty sure it was going to be a pretty explosive argument. It always was with them.
He took a deep breath and decided that whatever happened, he was going to get his point across.
"Granger...Granger...for fuck's sake, Hermione!"
She spun around and glared at him, "What do you want?"
"I want to talk. I want you to listen to me."
"No," she said, turning away from him.
"Granger come on. What do you have to lose if you just listen to me for five minutes?"
She turned around, arms crossed over her chest, but remained silent.
He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, "I never wanted to break up with -"
"Liar," she said, looking over to the window.
"Granger, you know that I love you. I told you that I did."
"Yeah, and then right after that you broke up with me, and I wasn't even worth an explanation. And then for you to call me..." she shook her head, rapidly blinking away the tears that were forming.
"You were worth so much more than me, Hermione. Worth so much more than what I could give you." he said quietly.
"So then why are you here again?"
"Because like I said that day in the library, I'm selfish. I'm selfish and I don't want to let you go."
"You already let me go." she snapped.
He ran a hand through his hair, "I had to make you mad at me. I couldn't tell you what -"
"You couldn't tell me because you don't trust me."
"That's not true."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because I was trying to protect you!"
"Protect me from what?" she asked, finally looking at him.
"My parents."
"Your parents." she repeated.
"They threatened you and -"
"And nothing!" she yelled, "You could have told me and we would have handled it. I'm a big girl Malfoy, I can take care of myself."
"We could have handled it? You can take care of yourself? Are you completely daft?" he asked, exasperated.
She opened her mouth to fire back a response, but he kept talking.
"My family aren't good people."
"Nobody is that bad that you can't -"
"My aunt carved 'Mudblood' into your arm with a crucio. I think that's pretty fucking bad."
"That doesn't make it okay!" she yelled.
"Doesn't make what okay Granger?"
"The fact that you lied to me."
"I didn't lie to you about a damn thing." he snapped, his jaw clenched.
"Yes you did!" she said, spinning around and continuing down the deserted hallway, but Draco was close behind her.
"Granger," he said reaching out and grabbing her wrist, "Why won't you just talk to me? Let me explain -"
She snatched her hand away and said, "You lied to me!"
"Lied about what?" he yelled, finally losing his temper.
"You said you wouldn't leave me!" she sobbed, finally breaking down.
He hadn't realized that he had told her he wouldn't leave when she'd finally told him about what Ron had done to her, and now he felt like the worst person on the planet.
"Hermione,"
"No!" she screamed, slapping his hand away, "You left, you said you wouldn't leave, and you left. You left just like they did."
"Like who did?" he asked, taking a step closer to her.
She took a step away from him so her back hit the cool stone wall, "Just go away."
"No, that's not going to work this time." he said, taking a few steps towards her until he stood directly in front of her.
He reached a hand out to touch her cheek, but she slapped it away, "I said don't touch me!" she screamed, attempting to move away from him, but he grabbed her waist and held her against himself, letting her hit his shoulders and chest until she slumped against him.
"They promised me they wouldn't leave. They promised." she whispered, tears finally escaping and rolling down her cheeks.
He ran a hand up and down her back and asked, "Who promised?"
For a moment she was quiet, but then a sob racked her small frame and she choked out, "My parents."
He stilled. She'd never told him anything of her parents, but he was aware of the fact that they'd been killed during the war. His father had made a point of telling him about it, though he never divulged who exactly it had been that killed them - if he even knew himself.
"What happened?" he asked softly.
Instead of answering him, she asked a question of her own, "Why did you leave me?"
He groaned, "You don't know how sorry I am about -"
"Just tell me why." she said, pulling away from him and sliding down the wall.
He sighed and sat down across from her, "Pansy told my parents that I was seeing you, and they freaked out. At first they threatened to take me out of the will, but when I said I didn't care, I guess they realized that the only way they'd get me to do what they wanted was if they threatened you. So that's what they did."
"But why -"
"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd want to try and fix it, but I didn't want you to have anything to do with them, or my family in general. After what Bella did to you...if anything else happened to you, I don't know what I would -"
"But you still could have given me that as your reason." she interrupted.
"I wanted you to think I was a terrible person. I wanted it to be easier for you to move on, because I swear to you Granger all I ever wanted was for you to be happy."
"Then you should have stayed with me, because whether you believe it or not, you make me happy. You are one of the very few things that make me genuinely happy."
"I want you to be safe." he whispered.
"You can protect me," she said softly. "I trust you."
Draco ran a hand through his hair and looked at her, "You know I love you."
"But is that enough?" she asked, her stomach in knots.
No matter how hurt she was by what he'd done, she did see his side, even if she didn't agree with it. Aside from the fact that he was one of the few people that made her forget about Ron...and her parents. Everything. He just made everything seem like it wasn't so bad.
He seemed to be warring with himself, various emotions flitting across his face before he spoke, "I...I hope it is, because I'm not ready to let you go."
She felt as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and she smiled, "Promise me something though."
"Anything," he said, leaning forward until his lips were inches from hers.
"You have tot promise to tell me the truth."
"That has to go both ways Granger." he said, giving her a pointed look.
"The truth about what?" she asked, an uncomfortable feeling settling in her stomach.
"Your parents, Ron, everything,"
She sighed, "What about your parents?"
"Like you said, we'll handle it together." he said, with some difficulty, because he still didn't want her involved in it.
"Okay," she said softly, "I promise."
"I promise too." he said, "And I promise not to leave like that again."
She smiled, "Okay,"
Then he leaned forward, and for the first time in two weeks, he kissed his beautiful girlfriend.