Bad Romance - Time

Hermione felt cold and shivery and she realised she was nervous. Nervous of Malfoy.

He stood just to the side of the old tree and looked straight at her. His cold, grey eyes seemed to take in every little detail and she wondered if he could tell that her heart had started beating faster and that her breath was shallow and fast.

She wasn’t scared of him, she told herself. However her hand reached towards her wand at her waist and her cold fingers closed around the warm handle. Instantly heat ran up her hand and along her arm, warming her up, and Hermione relaxed slightly. She wasn’t scared of him.

‘What do you want to talk about?’ she asked and was pleased that her voice came out clear.

Draco looked down at where her hand was clasping her wand at her waist and then he looked back at her face.

‘I wanted to ask you about your notes...’

‘Why? What’s wrong with them?’ Hermione frowned, what was the matter about her notes? Was there something Malfoy didn’t understand?

‘Nothing,’ he whispered. ‘I just wondered why?’

‘Why what?’ she frowned at him, not understanding.

‘Why did you give them to me?’

Hermione’s frown deepened. ‘You mean to tell me that you followed me all the way back to school, half scaring me out of my mind, just to ask me why I gave you a copy of them?’

He stared at her for a while and then gave a single nod of his blond head.

Hermione shook her head in wonder. ‘Why not? You missed the lessons so I thought I’d do you a favour.’

‘Why though? That’s what I don’t understand, why when it’s me?’

Hermione’s eyes widened in understanding. ‘Because I felt guilty,’ she whispered, being completely honest with him and herself.

Hermione had tried to hide the reason why from herself but she couldn’t no longer.

‘Guilty?’

She nodded. ‘I felt like it was because of me that you missed the classes. Like you were avoiding me so stayed away.’

He gave a dry bark of laughter. ‘Why would you think that? Because we had that little run in down in the dungeons?’

‘Yes,’ she nodded.

He laughed again. ‘I skipped out on the lessons because I couldn’t be bothered going. It had nothing to do with you.’

‘I see,’ Hermione said and couldn’t stop the stab of hurt that attacked her heart. She couldn’t explain it but she felt slightly disappointed that the reason he’d skipped out wasn’t because of her. Silly, she knew, why she should be bothered or even care she didn’t know?

‘You’re a strange one, Granger,’ he said and took a step closer.

‘Ha! And you’re not?’

He gave a rare smile. ‘I never said I wasn’t.’ He looked down at his feet and pause. When he looked back at her face Hermione saw that his eyes were a darker, deeper grey. ‘Don’t listen to what ever Blaise says, ok, he doesn’t mean the half of it and only says it because it’s expected of him.’

Hermione was surprised. Was Draco Malfoy giving her advice? Was he being kind? ‘Like you, you mean?’

‘What?’

‘Well, isn’t that why you’ve said all the things you have in the past, because it was expected of you? Because you felt like you had to say them?’

As she spoke, the words clarity hit Hermione like a spell. Suddenly everything seemed to clear for her and she understood. She understood Draco.

‘Isn’t that why you did everything you did during the war? Because you felt you had to, you were pressured into it?’ she took a step closer and looked him in the eye. ‘By your father? Your aunt? Voldemort?’

Draco seemed to stare at her in horror and took a quick step backwards.

‘You haven’t a clue!’ he cried out in a cold, hard voice.

Before Hermione could say anything else he had turned around and was half way back to the castle.

**************
Hermione couldn’t get her conversation with Malfoy out of her head. It was so confusing. As she lay in bed staring up at the canopy all she could picture was Malfoy’s pale face staring at her.

Why had she said those things? Ok, so she was only stating a fact. However much he hadn’t wanted to hear it, it didn’t mean that what she’d said wasn’t the truth. She knew deep down that she had hit the nail on the head. It was like she suddenly understood him.

He’d not liked hearing it and that only proved to her that she was right.

What was she going to do? Malfoy and she were not friends - they were enemies. Malfoy hated her and... well she wouldn’t go as far as to say she hated him but she held little respect for him.

But she couldn’t get the damn guy out of her head! Hermione huffed in frustration and turned over in bed. She tried to concentrate on thinking about her runes homework in the hope that it’d make her fall asleep.

Malfoy was in her ancient runes class.

Should she try and speak to him again? Tell him that she hadn’t meant to be so disrespectful. That she hadn’t meant to pry?

Why had he wanted to know why she had given him the notes anyway? She suddenly thought. Why had he cared? And following her! What had all that been about?

*****************

Damn! Draco cursed as he looked out of the window.

He didn’t know what had made him follow her from the village. He had watched her leave the pub and before he had known it his feet were following her foot prints. When she had looked around he’d felt compelled to disillusion himself. Not wanting her to see him.

Only that had changed when she’d headed for the lake. When he had realised that she wasn’t going straight into the castle and that they would be alone he hadn’t bothered to hide and had let her see him. Only then he’d had to think of a reason why he had followed her. He hadn’t thought she’d believe him if he’d told her that he’d just felt the need to.

The first thing that had popped into his mind had been to find out the reason why she’d been nice to him and given him her notes.

And he did honestly want to know her reason why? It wasn’t like Granger to be nice to him. Mind, it wasn’t like him to be nice to her.

But he felt like he wanted to. Draco didn’t know what was happening to him but all he could think about was stupid Hermione Granger. All he seemed to want do was watch her, look at her and now he felt compelled to talk to her.

He couldn’t get her out of his head.

And she was muggle born!

Draco gave a slight smile, pleased with himself. He was quickly falling out of the habit of using the word Mudblood.

He wasn’t that prejudice that he would hold her birth against her, not any more. His father would though, and Draco knew his father - and mother, though that he shared their opinions, which he did to a small extent. But his views had changed now, since the war. He didn’t have to please his father any more. He didn’t have to lie for his life and now he was allowed have and express his own views.

And in his opinion Muggle borns were not all that bad. He’d even dated a few in the past, though he’d always kept that well hidden from his family.

Hermione was much more then just a muggle born witch though. She was part of the golden trio and very much off limits to Draco. She always had been and she always would be. Knowing that, though, didn’t stop Draco from having inappropriate thoughts about her.


****************

Hermione arrived at her Defense lesson early and was able to take her pick amongst the seats available. Obviously the front row was taken up by most of the male students in the class.

Hermione chose a seat in the middle and sat down, taking her book and homework out of her bag and putting them on the desk in front of her.

Professor Lynch walked down the stairs into the room and looked around as the last few students entered and took their seats.

A shadow fell over Hermione and she turned, looking up in time to see Draco Malfoy sitting down next to her. He didn’t look at her as he took his own things out of his bag.

Hermione looked quickly around the room to see if anyone had noticed.

Ginny had. Her red haired friend, who was sitting next to Neville Longbottom two desks to the left, was staring at her with her mouth wide open and a question in her eyes.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders, not sure how to explain.

She looked sidewards at Malfoy and frowned. He was looking through his book, waiting for the lesson to begin.

‘What are you doing?’ Hermione hissed at him.

Draco turned another page in his book and didn’t look up. ‘Reading, Granger, what do you think I’m doing?’

Hermione sighed. ‘No. Why are you sitting here?’

Draco did look up from his book then and turned his head to look at her. ‘Because I’d rather sit next to you then Jamie Smith.’

Hermione turned her head to the left to look over her shoulder at what must be the only other available seat.

Jamie Smith sat by himself. His greasy blonde hair fell over his forehead, almost hiding most of his acne. His sausage like fingers turned pages in his book and Hermione could see that dirt was buried deep in his finger nails.

Her heart had given a little jump at Malfoy’s words but now she understood that she was the better of the two options left to him.

Hermione faced forwards again and tried her best to ignore him.

Which was very difficult to do. There was something about Draco that just made the female population sit up and take notice. Hermione wasn’t immune to it either. It had always been there but during the war Hermione had been able to ignore it. Now she couldn’t.

Draco just oozed sexual chemistry. Years ago Hermione might not have been able to put a name to it but now she could. Draco Malfoy was attractive. Even more so now. Hermione didn’t know if that was because he was more approachable now or what. However she didn’t feel like it was right for her to find him attractive. He was Draco Malfoy after all. They wern’t the best of friends. Her best friends hated him!

‘Right, everyone, lets begin,’ Professor Lynch called from the front of the room.

Everyone stopped talking and turned to look at the blonde teacher.

‘The Cruciatus curse. Open you books at the correct chapter and read the first page, please?’

Hermione took a deep breath and opened her book at the chapter. This was the lesson she had been dreading but the scholar in her would not allow herself to miss it.

Her hands shook as she found the right page.

‘This curse is one of the most complicated you will ever come across. The reason being it takes so much from the caster of the spell.’ Lynch explained. ‘Everyone of you can cast a decent spell, some of you will be able to create some amazing magic and more then a few of you I am sure can protect yourselves in a battle. But none of you will be able to protect yourself from this curse onces it hits.’ Her eyes went from student to student. ‘What makes this spell so evil is the person who casts it. They have to have hate in their heart to be able to make it work. This curse doesn’t just hurt someone, it tortures them - hence it’s nickname of the torture curse and the reason it’s so used by death eaters.’

Hermione sensed Draco twitch in his seat. His right hand gave his left arm a rub. As if it was sore.

She realised what he was rubbing and a sizzle of fright ran up her spine. Draco was a death eater. She’d not forgotten, she told herself. She’d never forget. But it was almost as if it didn’t matter. And, really, she supposed it didn’t matter - not any more. She hoped it didn’t anyway.

‘I have never been under the effects of the Cruciatus curse so I am not able to describe it. However in the chapter there are some testimonies of victims of the curse. I wish you to write a essay on the curse, listing the cause and effects. I want it in depth and at least 30 inches.’

Hermione was watching Lynch as she spoke but she felt eyes upon her. Hermione looked up to see Ginny watching her. A worried look in her eyes.

‘You ok?’ the red head silently mouthed.

Hermione nodded her head. Ginny gave her a small smile and sent a glare to Draco.

Hermione looked at him and found him watching her.

‘Any questions?’ Professor Lynch asked the class.

‘Yeah, But it’s not for you, professor.’ Blaise spoke up from his seat near the front.

Draco’s eyes flew to his friend and Hermione saw them narrow as they looked at the boy.

‘Oh?’ Lynch asked.

‘No, You see,’ Blaise went on to explain. ‘You want this essay in depth and the effects listed but as I’ve never suffered the curse I only have the testimonies in this book.’ he indicated the book on the desk in front of him. ‘To go on and I don’t find them very informative.’

‘Well I’m afraid there isn’t really a lot we can do about that, Mr Zabini.’

‘Maybe not but I have a question for Granger.’

All eyes turned to Hermione and her breath caught in her chest, she’d had an idea what was coming, had been expecting it from the beginning of the lesson.

‘Miss Granger?’ Lynch questioned, her eyes wide as she looked from Blaise to Hermione.

Blaise nodded, ‘Yeah.’ He turned to look at Hermione. ‘What’s it like to be under the curse, Granger?’

The room seemed to freeze. Every student was silent and still why they waited for Hermione’s answer.

Hermione blinked and suddenly she was back in Malfoy manor, lying on the floor and hearing her own screams ringing in her ears.

Terror held her body still.

‘Maybe Miss Granger would rather not answer your question, Mr Zabini.’ Lynch’s voice echoed in Hermione’s ears.

She blinked again and found herself staring into hard, grey eyes. Malfoy’s eyes. Terror gripped her heart again and then she realised that the eyes were looking at her with concern in them, not anger or hatred.

Taking a deep breath Hermione spoke ‘It’s what you’d expect, Zabini.’ She didn’t take her eyes of Draco. ‘It’s painful and shocking. It’s the purest evil imaginable and although it doesn’t leave a visible mark it certainly scars!’

Before anyone could turn away or speak Hermione was out of her chair and gone from the room.

She was halfway down the corridor before arms reached for her and held her close. Hermione was surrounded by Ginny’s soft, sweet smell and relaxed against her friend. Tears leaked from her eyes and she cried silently against Ginny’s shoulder.

After what seemed like ages Hermione pulled away.

‘You didn’t have to do that, Hermione,’ Ginny whispered.

‘I know,’ Hermione said and wiped at her cheeks. ‘That lesson brought back some terrible memories, I thought I was prepared, I’d been expecting it and I wasn’t going to let Zabini get the better of me.’

Ginny smiled. ‘That’s a girl,’ she said. ‘He was just after a reaction. When I left I think Lynch was getting ready to give him a piece of her mind.’

That made Hermione feel a little better. Zabini was just a bully. He had obviously been aware of what had happened to Hermione in the Malfoy mansion and was just looking to hurt her.

‘I hope she gives him hell!’ Hermione said with venom in her voice.

‘Draco Malfoy didn’t look to happy either. He looked like he was going to follow you until he saw me get up...’ Ginny gave Hermione a sharp look. ‘What was he doing sitting next to you?’

Hermione shook her head. ‘I haven’t a clue. He said something about sitting next to me was better then sitting next to Jamie Smith.’

‘So why did he look like he was ready to freak at Zabini?’

‘I don’t know... Maybe because he felt guilty?’ Hermione looked around, feeling awkward and wanting to avoid looking Ginny in the eyes. ‘Look, Gin, I left my bag behind. I’m going to go back for it.’

Ginny nodded. Her own bag over her shoulder. ‘I didn’t realise or I would have got it for you.’

‘It’s alright, I’ll go get it. You go on or we’ll both be late for History.’

Ginny nodded and with another sharp look at Hermione she walked away.

Hermione took another deep breath and started walking back towards her defense class room. Students walked past her on their way to their next lesson and the few that had been in her defense class sent her questioning looks. Hermione chose to ignore them. She rounded a corner and gasped as someone grabbed her hand and pulled her into a empty class room.

‘Malfoy!’ she cried when she saw who had grabbed her.

‘Here,’ he shouted and pushed her bag at her.,

Hermione took it, surprised that he had thought about getting it for her. ‘Erm... Thanks.’

He nodded and turned to leave the empty class room.

‘Wait!’ Hermione called out. She wasn’t sure why she stopped him, but she felt like she didn’t want him to go yet.
He turned to look at her, his eyes narrowed. Shaking his head he walked towards her, slowly. When he was stood in front of her he lifted a hand and ran a finger down her cheek.

Hermione couldn’t breath. Couldn’t think. All she could do was stare at him. At his slowly darkening grey eyes.

Her mouth parted and her skin burned where he touched and then he was gone, walking back towards the door and then out of it.

Hermione stood there, rooted to the spot, shock buzzing through her. Draco Malfoy had just stroked her cheek. Why?

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A/N; I hope you're liking it??? Let me know :) I have upto Chapter 14 written so expect regular updates.