Just Pretend

This chapter was beta'd by my great Beta Temperthestorm.



Hermione had had enough of people asking her questions that she wasn't ready to answer if she wasn't going to tell....Hermione couldn't say his name without bursting into tears.

If she wasn't going to tell him why would she tell any of these assholes? They were just pitying her. They really didn't care about what happened to her, they were just curious about what really did happen.

The only one who would care would be professor McGonagall. Who Hermione had to talk to everyday until she could tell McGonagall the truth about why she tried to kill herself.

Hermione didn't dare glance around in the classroom. She could already hear the whispers. She didn't want to see the looks; the stares that she knew were there.

The professor dismissed them. Hermione put her books in her bag and got up to leave. Sure enough like everyday for the past week or so she heard the footsteps behind her.

She had had enough of Blaise following her around wherever the fuck she went. She was sure that HE made Blaise watch her like she was a child.

"Leave me alone, Blaise." This was the first time she had spoken to him.

"You remember how to talk? I'm surprised really. You don't answer the questions in class, you don't speak to your friends."

Blaise stopped talking when he was suddenly part of the wall. His bag fell from his shoulder and hit the floor. Hermione's wand was in the pressure point of his neck. The students that were passing didn't say anything, they just stared as they walked by.

"Don't follow me around cause that dumb ass told you to. Get a life Blaise and stop doing what HE tells you to."

She didn't care how harsh her words were. She was pissed and she was going to take it out on someone and he was the one who had to be behind her. So it is his fault.

Hermione was about to let him go and just leave cause the way he wasn't saying anything, just staring into her eyes. She was worried that he could see right through the tough act.

"He didn't tell me to follow you around. I'm doing it because I'm worried about you," Blaise finally answered. It wasn't a lie. Draco didn't ask him to follow her. He offered and took it upon himself to do so.

Hermione let the tears fill up in her eyes. She didn't know if she was crying because Draco didn't care enough to have someone follow her or if it was Blaise’s kindness towards her and she was feeling guilty about what she had just said to him.

"I'm sorry." Hermione let her tears fall as she ran outside. She needed to get away.

"Hermione!" Blaise yelled, chasing after her.

Hermione let her books fall so she could run faster. She didn't know that Blaise had also left his bag of books in the corridor.

"Hermione!" Blaise yelled louder, making sure not to trip over the books she had just dropped.

Hermione stopped and so did Blaise. He was going to be sure to give her space.

Hermione slowly turned toward Blaise.

"Please Blaise," Hermione said weakly. "I'm just so tired. Tired of everything. My life is so fucked up right now. I just want to run. Get so far away."

"Running isn't going to help, Hermione. It will catch up to you."

"What do you want from me Blaise? Isn't bad enough that he dumped me. That he just decided that it was all over? It wasn't fair, I was so shocked I couldn't say anything and he just yelled at me. Blaise he’s mad at me."

"Hermione. Let me take you to your dorm."

Blaise carefully made his way to Hermione. "This is all my fault. All of this is my fault. I'm so sorry Blaise." With tearful eyes Hermione looked up at Blaise.

As if seeking permission first he inched closer to her to see if she would back away from him or attempt to kill him.

She did nothing but stare at him. When Blaise wrapped his arms around her she let all of her frustration out in her tears.

Blaise held her firmer as she cried harder. He whispered caring words in her ear.

Blaise walked Hermione to her dorm. He ended up making her a nice hot cup of tea. When he saw that she wasn't taking her sleeping potion that Madame Pomfrey gave her he considered lecturing her about not taking it when she was supposed to, but he decided against it and simply told her that he was going to mix it in with her tea.

She just nodded at him.

He sat in silence with her until she was relaxed in her bed and about to drift to sleep. He got up and off the bed when he thought she was out. However as he opened her door he heard a quiet "Thank you."

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Now Blaise was going to Draco's room while he was in the head's dorm. He was surprised that he was still allowed to keep his head position after what he and Harry did to each other.

Blaise knew better then to get between them. They weren't even using their wands. It was about physical power. Who was stronger.

The whole time Harry claimed he did nothing to Hermione. He would never hurt her like that. That just pissed Draco off more. It hurt Draco to know that she would lie to him to protect Harry.

It hurt Draco because she would just forget about it like it was nothing and forgive him. That such a disgusting thing you can do. Rape a girl.

"Hey mate" Draco greeted.

"Okay you guys are making me mental!" Blaise said. He was stuck between two friends. What was he suppose to do? He had to carefully to play both sides which, as Blaise would bluntly say, isn't easy. He was probably going to get insomnia cause of the lack of sleep.

"You think your going mental? The love of my life I'm not with, she lied to me to protect her best friend who raped her. Then she felt like she couldn't come to me to talk, she couldn't get all that off her chest to find emotional release, so she decided she wanted to kill herself. God! Blaise if she killed herself I would probably do that same. I can't live without her. It's killing me to break up with her" Draco yelled, as he paced the room.

Draco suddenly stopped. He was looking at his feet like it was the most remarkable thing the world. "I failed her" Draco said, so quietly Blaise had to strain to hear correctly.

"Draco you need to talk to her, yell at her. Yelling at me isn't going to solve anything. It won't even make you feel better; you won't get anything out of it but a headache. She needs you! She loves you Draco. She was scared, she still is scared!"

"Blaise I’m confused okay! I'm lost and I’m confused" Draco yelled.

"You think she isn't!" Blaise yelled back.

"Why are you against me?"

Blaise was taken back by his question before his anger grew. Draco didn't waver when Blaise moved forwards so that he was only inches from his face.

"Never. Don't you dare, Draco. I'm never against you, I'm behind you constantly. Don't doubt our friendship. If you doubt our friendship, you doubt me. Never doubt me. I love you like my own brother, like my own blood. I would die for you. You can always tell me anything. I never judged you. I will always accept you for you no matter what. Please Draco don't doubt me." The anger drained out of Blaise until he was begging Draco. Friendship was the one real thing he could always lean on. Why would Draco ever doubt that.

What seemed like eternity was only moments. They stared at each other and Draco was the first to break eye contact. Meaning he still had doubts.

"I... I'll just.... Yeah." Blaise left with out another incoherent sentence.

Now, like Hermione he needed to go to a good friend that would listen to his problems, complaints, and fears. Now he had no one like her. His best friend just doubted them. He was going to go back to his dorm and hide under his covers. He wanted to hide away from the world because now he was most vulnerable. He didn't want to be hurt anymore; he didn’t want anyone to see his weakness. He started to become aware of what Hermione felt.