The Hoax {34}
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Ginny and Blaise sat down next to each other in the empty library, staring at each other. "What does Parkinson have against Malfoy that's making him act like this?" Ginny asked as she eyed Blaise carefully. "He didn't talk?"
"Not a word," Blaise replied bitterly, making a face. "It has to do something with Granger—it has to. He loves her and he cares for her, we know that. It only makes sense that Parkinson threatened to hurt Granger or something."
"What can that stupid girl do? She can't even hold her wand properly—better yet remember a spell." She said as she shrugged, shaking her head. "The only thing that girl can do is just sleep around with all the boys in her house—possibly the whole school." She muttered under her breath and suddenly stared at Blaise accusingly, leaning back slightly in her chair. "Di—have you . . . have you shagged her?"
Blaise's eyes widened as he let out a small chuckle, shaking his finger at Ginny incredulously. "I shag everyone and anyone—except that girl. We both can't stand each other, why would we even—no. What made you think that?"
"Well, she has quite a reputation for shagging everyone so . . . I thought you would be a likely candidate."
"After all this time—after becoming great friends, you' think I would stoop so low and be so desperate to shag that girl?"
"Did Malfoy and Parkinson . . . ever . . .?" She let her voice trail off and allowed her eyes to do the talking as she stared intently at him.
"Wha—what do you think we are?! We shag women—not pug-faced dogs like her!" He exclaimed and quickly looked around to see if anyone heard. "Draco doesn't even touch that girl."
"Well, that's a relief. Wait, no one seems to shag her. Then her rumors aren't true, huh?"
"No, it's true. She shags Nott – they're shagging partners. They don't have any feelings for each other, which is why he lets that crazy girl go after Draco."
Ginny's eyes widened as she nodded. "Wow, I didn't even . . . that never crossed my mind." She said as she stood up, looking at the books on the shelves. "But enough about her and shagging people . . . I wonder how we're going to hurt Malfoy. I mean, my plan will work. We just need him to physically, possibly mentally and maybe emotionally, but physically hurt. But then again, he must be emotionally and mentally hurt—we're horrible people if we hurt him physically."
"Well, it was your plan. Do you want to physically hurt Granger, then? No, Malfoy should get hurt. We all agreed on that unanimously last time."
"Yeah, you're right." She said as she quirked up an eyebrow, walking over to the window and leaning against it lightly as she stared at Blaise. "I just . . . I can't believe Parkinson managed to break them apart like that. Malfoy was beginning to open up to us more—he showed more than just anger and bitterness towards us. He even bought us brooms for crying out loud! Hermione changed him and it took so long for that to happen yet, it only took seconds for Parkinson to turn him back into that cold bastard. Why? I thought he changed for good when he bought us those brooms—it was so unexpected of him to and it was kind of him to do that."
"Parkinson has a way with her words and threats . . ." Blaise spat out and suddenly stood up, staring at Ginny. "Parkinson only knows how to fight with her words. She threatened Draco that she would spread nasty rumors about Granger—that has to be it. She was the one who spread that rumor about her and Draco last week. She must have something important and dark of Hermione's—a, a secret of some sort that she's threatening Draco with. Do you know any secrets of Granger's?"
Ginny shook her head slowly. "Not that I know of, no. Hermione rarely has secrets and she always tells us everything."
"Maybe not . . . they trusted each other, right? They must've told each other a secret or two – a secret that only they would know about each other." He said, trying hard to piece the puzzles back together but couldn't find the last two pieces that would complete it. "I . . . but how would Parkinson know about it. No, maybe I'm wrong."
"No, I think you're on the right track. They really did trust each other so much and it only makes sense that they would've told each other their deepest, darkest secrets. Parkinson could've . . . overheard or something about Hermione's secret. And well . . . Parkinson is threatening Malfoy saying that she would reveal Hermione's biggest secrets, yes? And that wouldn't really impact or affect him but then he realized that Hermione would assume he was the one who spread it around since he was the only one she told that secret to! That's why he's doing what Parkinson is doing! He's guarding Hermione's big secret."
"H, how bad is the secret that'll make Draco protect it so . . . fiercely?"
"We won't know and I sure as hope we don't find out anytime soon. Okay, change of plans—well, not really. Plan A is to find Pansy's dark secret—everyone has one and she has to have one—so we find her dark secret and use it against her. If that doesn't work . . . well, Plan B—our original plan to hurt Draco and get those two back together."
"If only if it were that easy to find Pansy's secrets . . ." Blaise muttered as he sat back down with a sigh. "How will we do that, then?"
"We trail her . . . quietly. I think you should trail Parkinson while I trail Nott. I have a few classes with him."
"Why trail Nott?"
"They're shagging partners, right? I mean—they must have some feelings for each other or a secret, right? How long have they been shagging partners, hmm?"
"Since the summer . . . I don't know when it started but—"
"It's been a while, yes? There has to be something between them—anything. We'll start tomorrow morning. We trail the two and then meet back here to share what we've learned. Are you ready to do this again?"
"What the hell, sure, I'm ready." He replied, wearing a tired face. "They better get together again and stay like that or I'll just avada kedavra all their arses."
Ginny let a small laugh escape from her lips as she shook her head. "Right, let's get out of here." She said as they started walking out of the library.
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"You really screwed up, Malfoy." Draco stayed silent as the owner of the sharp sea green eyes glared at him. "Look, I know you loved her—no you still do. I hate to admit it but you still do. It wasn't easy for Ron and me to hand over Hermione to you, but we did. It took us some time to process everything, she's our best friend and a sister to me . . . I wasn't planning on letting her go to you. But then, I saw how much you two loved each other and I knew . . . I knew that you would make her happy—that you would love her more than we ever did. Are you going to tell me that letting Hermione go over to you was a mistake?" Harry asked furiously as he leaned against the window sill.
"Yes, it was." Draco answered quietly and briefly.
Harry rolled his fingers into a fist as he angrily walked over to Draco, grabbing the blonde by his collar and swinging his fist back and forward until his fist was only an inch away from Draco's face. Harry looked from his fist to Draco's face and threw Draco back angrily, letting out a scream. "Why?!" He yelled as he kicked the wall beside him hard and forcefully. "Why do you listen to Parkinson?"
Draco blinked twice before he stood up, walking over to Harry. "Hit me—you'll feel a lot better, so will I. Do both of us a favor and punch me."
"I'm not going to do you a favor, Malfoy. As much as I want to hurt you—I can't because of Hermione. Ron and I want to hurt you so badly but we can't!" He raised his voice as he looked at Draco. "You're worthless and a coward for even listening to Parkinson. Do you want me to tell you something? Hermione knew everything. She knew you were lying and she knew Parkinson had something to do with it. She isn't hurt because she thinks you don't love her. Her heart broke because you didn't come and ask for help—you didn't talk it out with her to fight against Parkinson. You decided to take things into your own hands and screw up everything. You betrayed her."
"I . . . I know what I di—"
"Then go over to Hermione and tell her everything!" Harry ordered as he pointed down the stairs to the tower. "All you have to do is go over to her and tell her how sorry you are and—"
"It's not that easy, Potter!" Draco finally roared as he glared at Harry. "I understand everything! I hurt her, Potter. How can I go back and face her again after doing that? After knowing that she knew everything about me? I'm nothing but a worthless coward. Hermione deserves bett—"
"Don't even finish that. She doesn't deserve you—you're right, she deserves so much better than you. But what can we do? Her heart still belongs to you. She still thinks about you even after what you've done to her. Didn't you hear her earlier? She cares about you. She's afraid that you're alone in this. Even after hearing that—you still refuse to talk to her!?"
"I'll only hurt her mo—"
"She's already hurt, Draco!" Harry growled at him. "She's broken inside and out—what more can you do to her?! You're only hurting her more inside by ignoring her. She's long gone. She doesn't eat properly, she drowns herself in studying and work, she doesn't talk to us a lot anymore . . . she's dead. Her soul is dead and the Hermione you see if just a cold, empty shell. Don't you understand that? She doesn't need—no; she doesn't want any of us to help her. She just wants you, only you." Harry finished softly as he looked out the window, holding back his tears. He let out a deep sigh and reached into his pocket, pulling out the necklace. "Here, take it." He said as he dropped it on the window sill. "Stop being a coward because I know that you care deeply for her and that you love her. You might think that you're protecting her now but look at it from Hermione's perspective. It's different." Harry concluded as he walked away, leaving Draco alone.
Draco trembled with angry tears as he hesitantly reached for the necklace. He felt the cold metal touch his fingertips and grabbed it, taking it into his hands. He looked down at the necklace and quickly rolled his fingers into a fist, dropping his hand. He clenched his jaw as he looked out the window, clutching onto the necklace with his dear life.
---
Hermione walked out of Potions class early since they had finished their potion early and of course—it was perfect. Draco was in front of her and today, he was walking a lot slower than usual. She stopped walking and watched as Draco came to a complete stop as well. She furrowed her eyebrows and she took a step back just as he had turned around, facing her for the first time. She caught her breath and almost stumbled on her feet but caught herself before making a fool out of herself. Draco's dark, steely grey eyes bored into her colorless brown ones before he took a few quick strides over to her. She quickly took a few steps back and ended up backing up into the wall. Draco walked over to her, standing right in front of her.
"We need to talk." Draco finally said quietly as he stared at her.
"About what?" Hermione asked back just as quietly.
"Can we go somewhere more private to talk about th—"
"No, there's no one here, anyways. Just talk." She ordered, growing more confident as she stared at him.
Draco sighed as he reluctantly looked around to see if there was anyone there. It was empty and quiet. Good. "I, I wanted to talk about . . ." He lost his train of thought—the words he had been rehearsing all day had just vanished. Damn. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he cleared his throat.
"You're wasting my time, Mal—"
"Do you want your necklace back?" Draco blurted out without thinking because of the panic that filled him when Hermione tried to leave. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace, placing it on his palm and showing it to Hermione.
"Necklace?" She asked as she looked down at the necklace with confusion. She unconsciously reached up to her neck to feel nothing but her own skin. "You have it?" She asked with a bit of shock. She mentally slapped herself for leaving that at the tower last night. How did he get his hands on it, though? Harry would've found it, right?
"I found it—"
"Keep it," Hermione's cold voice cut in as she blankly stared through Draco. "I obviously left it there for a reason." She lied through her teeth and finally lifted her eyes up to his face with a small grin. "I don't want it anymore." She stated convincingly as she reached up hesitantly, rolling Draco's fingers into a ball. She quickly let go of his hand as she pushed past him, walking off.
Draco felt a pang of hurt as he looked down at his closed hand. "N, no, wait!" He yelled out after her and quickly caught up, coiling his fingers around her small wrist. He walked in front of her and grabbed her hand, spilling the necklace into her small hands. "I think you should keep this." He said as he did the same exact thing, closing her fingers and making a fist. He felt his heart lightly jump when his hand came in contact with her soft, warm hands. Hermione's heart melted at his gentle touch—the one she longed for so desperately.
Draco cleared his throat and quickly walked off before Hermione could do anything. It was as if he was gone in a blink of an eye. Hermione opened up her hands again and saw the necklace in her hands. She gently picked it up with her other hand, examining it carefully. She placed it back into her hand and gripped onto it as she slowly stalked off.
---
The sound of her boots crunching into the white snow filled the air as she let out a deep breath—her breath becoming visible in the cold, winter wind. Hermione closed her eyes, allowing the cold air to blow into her face and hair. She opened up her eyes slowly as she looked at the castle in front of her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the necklace. She looked at it with a pained expression. The necklace brought so many memories—memories she wished she could erase . . . but it contained the greatest memories she's ever had. She didn't want to throw it away or lose it again. She suddenly heard a crunch behind her and quickly snapped her neck towards the sound. She saw no one but saw a male's footprint only a few inches away from where she was standing. She reached for her wand and turned around when a big impact hit her in the head and everything went black.
---
"Mate, I got here as fast as I could. How is she?" Ron asked as he stared at Harry with surprise.
"Sh, she's fine. Someone brought her in and mysteriously left without anyone seeing them. Madam Pomfrey came in and saw Hermione lying on the bed. She thinks Hermione may have slipped and fallen hard—possibly banging her head on thick ice or some sort. She's fine—she's just sleeping right now. She'll be alright." Harry stated as he nodded. "She'll be awake soon but—"
"We should leave her alone for now." Ginny cut in as she walked in with Madam Pomfrey. "She needs some rest . . . and when she wakes up, she might have a headache and having all these people around her won't be good for her. Let's just go for now and come back tomorrow morning. She'll be in here the whole time, don't worry Ron." Ginny said as she exchanged looks with Harry before dragging Ron out of the infirmary.
Right at that moment, coming from the opposite direction was Blaise and Draco. "She's fine—nothing critical. She had a blow to her head; no one knows what exactly happened. She just seemed to have slipped and fallen hard on her head or something. She's alright, though. Ginny, Harry, and I arranged a few things so you can stay with her through the night. You should probably leave in the morning, though. They'll be back by then. I'll take care of Pansy, okay? Just go in there—"Blaise pushed Draco into the infirmary and quickly walked away.
Now, it was time to keep Parkinson busy.
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"I told you to steal the necklace, how simple is that!? I didn't ask you to put her in the hospital! Now, people will start to suspect me, you idiot." She yelled at him angrily as she jabbed her finger in his chest multiple times mercilessly. "What was so hard?"
"I was going to get caught—"
"Then get caught! Why would you knock her out with whatever you knocked her out with? I specifically asked you to get the necklace, not hurt her. That's my job." Pansy told him with her dark eyes glaring him down. "Well, did you at least get the necklace?"
"I couldn't it anywhere, I—"
"You are completely useless." She spat at him with disgust as she lightly pushed him back, crossing her arms across her chest.
"What were you even planning on doing with that necklace? Give it to your precious Draco?"
Pansy lowered her gaze on him as she dropped her hands to the side. "What? Are you jealous of Draco or something?"
"No—"
"Then, what's with the attitude? I asked you to help me and you could've refused but you chose to help. If you want to blame anyone for making you get into this mess—blame yourself."
"I'm out—I'm not helping you anymore. You can do all your dirty work by yourself. Don't come over to me asking me to steal a necklace from Granger again."
"I won't now that I know how inept you are." Pansy commented as she smirked at him.
"What did you do to it, huh? I've been meaning to ask you before you left for the holidays."
"There was nothing to do to anything, Nott. I wasn't pregnant. It was a false alarm." She told him with a groan, rolling her eyes. "Why do you care?"
"Well, if you were pregnant, the baby would've been mine." Theodore Nott replied back as he glared at the girl.
"Well, you don't have to worry because I'm not pregnant. Besides, if I was – I would've made sure Draco was the father, not you."
"You're a selfish bitch, you know that?"
"I'm fully aware of it, thanks so much for pointing out the obvious." She said and checked her nails as she let out a sigh.
"What did you do to the book, then? The pregnancy book that you bou—"
"I tossed it in the library. No one will find it, besides; it's not like the person who finds it will know it's mine. No one goes to the library, anyways. I took care of everything. And you know what? I don't need the necklace anymore. It's not important, so that means, I don't need you anymore. Goodbye, Nott." She said as she pushed past him, walking towards the door when she suddenly stopped—turning around. "Oh, and don't tell anyone about this little arrangement unless you want me to make your life miserable."
"Being in your very presence makes me feel sick to the core—I'm sure you can't make me feel as miserable as I am now just talking to you." He stated with a scoff as he stared at her. "Good luck with Malfoy." He mocked her as he walked past her, leaving the room.
Pansy felt him roughly push past her—bumping shoulders with her and let out a snicker. She frowned as she glared at the door and groaned. "Whatever," She growled and stormed out of the room.
---
Ginny peered out of the column and saw Theodore Nott walking casually down the hall. Just then, she saw Pansy walking out of the room after him. Interesting. Ginny waited patiently behind the column and saw that the two people were going in opposite directions. Good. She quickly followed behind Theodore Nott as quietly as she could. She kept her wand in her hand just in case. She realized Theo was walking faster than before and came to the conclusion that he knew he was being followed. "Stop right there, Nott!" She ordered fiercely as she pointed her wand in his direction.
Theodore slowly turned around and saw Ginny pointing a wand in his face. "I didn't expect you to be the one following me." He shrugged his shoulders as he stared at her. "Why are you following me, anyway?"
"We have things to talk about, Nott. What do you say? We'll put the wands down and simply talk."
"About what?"
"You and Parkinson."
"What about us?"
Ginny lifted up an eyebrow, cocking her head to one side with a do-you-really-want-to-play-that-game-with-me- look. "We can do it the easy way . . . or the hard way. Have you ever been a victim by my famous hex?" She threatened with a grin as she walked a bit closer to him.
Theo thought about what just happened before with Pansy and smirk crawled onto his face. "Okay, I agree to talk. But on one condition."
"What?"
"Will this possibly . . . ruin her life?"
"Well, it all depends on what you tell me." Ginny reasoned with a smirk.
Theodore let out a small laugh as he nodded. "Okay, deal." He agreed.
"Great," Ginny said with a small grin as she walked over to him. "Let's go have a nice chat in the library." She said as she slowly dragged Nott with her. If only Blaise was doing as fine as she was. She doubted it. Parkinson was a hard one to crack—which was why she left Blaise up with her.
---
"Will you stop following me, you prick!" Pansy exclaimed with frustration as she threw her hands up in the air. "Stop it!"
"Look, I just want to talk, that's all." Blaise reasoned as he quickly ran in front of Pansy, stopping her. "Please?"
"No." Pansy immediately rejected his offer as she pushed past him.
"What's going on between you and Theo?" Blaise blurted out, saying anything to just make Pansy stop walking. And it seemed like he had been very lucky because Pansy stopped and turned around abruptly with angry eyes. Something definitely happened between the two of them—if only he knew what.
"What do you know about us?" She asked with a glare as she crossed her arms across her chest.
"Why don't we go somewhere more private and talk."
"No, we need to talk r—"
"Don't be so difficult and follow me—or I'll just have to go and tell everyone about you and No—"
"NO!" She roared out as she jumped in front of Blaise in a blink of an eye. "Don't you dare."
"Then, let's go somewhere more private to talk about this—the library." He suggested casually as he dragged Pansy off to the library.
"How do you know about us?" Pansy asked as she cautiously looked over at Blaise.
"I have my ways, Parkinson. You aren't the only one with connections—with little spies." Blaise played along as he winked at her.
Pansy simply clenched her jaw, staying silent as she groaned inwardly.
---
Draco silently and briskly walked over to Hermione and finally stopped as he stood over her bed. She looked so peaceful; he didn't want to wake her up. He slowly leaned down and kissed her forehead ever-so-gently and quickly sat down next to her. He hesitantly reached over and placed his warm hand over her cold ones, immediately warming them up. Draco gently held her hand as he stared at her. "I'm sorry . . . I love you so much, Hermione." He told her silently, looking down and feeling half of the weight lifting off from his shoulder. If only Hermione was actually listening to his every word. He lifted his head back up and stared at their hands. He removed his hands off from on top of hers and suddenly furrowed his eyebrows. Her hand was tightly shut into a fist as if she was holding onto something important to her.
He scanned Hermione face to see if she waking up but saw that she was still peacefully sleeping. He held her hand and gently unfolded her fingers open to see the necklace. He caught his breath and raised an eyebrow when all of a sudden, Hermione stirred in her bed. He quickly let go of her hand and sat on the edge of his seat. Just as Hermione had opened his eyes, he shot up from his seat and started walking away.
"Draco?" Her soft voice called out. Draco froze as he felt goose bumps make its way all over his skin from just the sound of his name rolling off her tongue again. He slowly turned around and locked eyes with Hermione.
Hermione caught her breath as she furrowed her eyebrows. "Wh, why—what are you doing here?" She asked as she raised her hand to her head, touching her head from the headache that had just occurred.
"I, I was just . . ."
"Leaving?" Hermione finished for him with a tad bit of disappointment. "You're really good at that these days . . ." She commented bitterly as she ripped her eyes off of his. "If you're going to leave, just go."
"No . . . I wasn't going to leave." Draco stated as he looked at Hermione who looked at him with doubt. "Honestly, I was going to leave but it was only because – do you want me to stay?" He asked, turning the tables as he stood there—planted in his spot.
Hermione firmly stitched her lips together into a thin line as she stared at him for a long time. "Do you want to stay?" She asked, turning the tables back over to him.
"Yes, only if you're alright with that."
"I guess I won't mind some company." She replied as she took a deep breath.
"How are you feeling?" He asked warily, slowly walking over to her and sitting down next to her.
"Better than the past few weeks . . . a lot better." She answered him with a ghost of a smile playing on her lips but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
"That's good, that's . . . very good." He said and awkwardly sat there as they stared at each other.
"Well," Hermione started, breaking the silence before they suffocated in it. "Does Parkinson know you're here? She'll probably have a fit and ask for someone to kill me."
"N, no . . . she doesn't know." He said softly.
"Is there anyone else here in this room except us?"
"It's just us." Draco told her as he looked at her.
"Just us . . .?" She clarified and immediately grabbed one of the pillows, chucking it at Draco with such force and anger, but he quickly blocked it with his quick reflexes. "How dare you come in here after weeks! Weeks, Draco!" She yelled as she threw another pillow—pillow after pillow until there was none left. "How could you?" She asked as she breathed heavily from her outburst with tears in her eyes. "Did you think you were protecting me? Did you honestly think that I wouldn't see right through you?" She raised her voice at him at her last statement. "What was going through your mind when you agreed to hurt me by staying with Parkinson? Did she threaten you? What did she do? You could've just told me and we could've fought against her together. You decided to do it alone and look at us now? She won. You let Parkinson wi—"
"She found out about your secret . . . about your parents. I don't know how but she knew, Hermione. She threatened me that she would tell everyone in school and make sure you were alone with no one by your side—"
"I am alone, Draco! I wouldn't be alone if you were to refuse her tempting offer because I would still have you, right? I don't even—why would you—"
Draco got up from his seat and sat down on the edge of her bed, pulling her into a warm embrace in which Hermione gladly hugged back as tears sailed down her rosy cheeks. She felt complete again being in his arms, as did Draco.
And in that moment, they knew in the silence that they would never let go of each other again.
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Jajajajaaj :D Are they officially back together again? Maybe... maybe not. Hmmm, I'm such a cruel person. Like, you never know! I might just break them apart again next chapter. Lolol just kidding. I may or may not do it. Who knows? Haah I sincerely hope you all enjoyed this little chapter. I had this huge snowstorm (hallelujah) and finally had time to write it since I had no school today :D yeah, snow~ Please drop a review below and I hope you enjoyed! :D
-Annie