Change

Two weeks had gone by and Hermione hadn\'t so much as even looked at him. If looks could kill, Draco would have been dead days ago with all the death glares Harry was shooting at him. From the Slytherin table Draco had watched Harry avoid Ginny like the plague while Ginny seemed to be wallowing in self pity. Hermione seemed to go on as if the incident hadn\'t occurred; on the other hand she seemed to spend more time in her room and in the library.



Yes, she had always been a studious bookworm who spent endless hours in the library but this was ridiculous. For two long weeks Draco had watched her, thought about her, dreamt of her, longed for her, he was convinced that he was going to lose his mind without her. Draco took another sip of fire whiskey “You idiot” he mumbled into his glass, he sighed and took another large gulp of his drink. “And with she Weasel” Draco banged his head on the back of the couch “Idiot, Idiot, Idiot”.



Draco stood up and paced around the heads common room for what seemed like hours drinking glass after glass of fire whiskey and trying to come up with a way of getting Hermione to at least look at him, acknowledge his existence in her world, even in the smallest of gestures such as a glance. Draco plopped back down on the couch, he felt defeated and the last thing he wanted to do was feel anything at all. The alcohol was quickly taking its effect. Draco allowed the slow buzzing feeling to flow over him, he sighed \'mmm bliss\' he took a deep breath \'a place where emotions are unheard of\'. Draco leaned his head back on the soft cushions and it wasn\'t long before sleep claimed him.



After several hours of studying, avoiding everyone and anyone and spending countless hours cooped up in the library, Hermione finally decided it was time to head back to her room. The quiet halls were evidence of the late hour, \'I hope that ferret git is in his room or not there at all\' Hermione thought to herself.



When she finally arrived at the portrait leading into the Heads common room Hermione took a deep breath, mumbled the password and walked into the room. The scent of alcohol assaulted her nostrils causing her to grimace at the scent.



\'Gods what the-\' the sound of soft snoring reached her ears and she looked in its direction and sighed at the sight before her. Draco was laid out in a messy heap on the couch. The glowing embers of the fire illuminating his fair skin, Hermione sighed softly \'that prat, he even looks beautiful when he\'s passed out drunk, too bad he\'s a man whore\'.



Hermione looked over at Draco and scanned his figure from top to bottom, his Slytherin tie hung loosely around his neck, the buttons on his pristine white collar shirt were open revealing a bit of his chest, and his sleeves were rolled up to just below his elbows, his shoes had been kicked off and were tossed in different directions.



“Drowning your sorrows Malfoy?” Hermione smirked as she placed her hands on her hips and towered over the drunken Slytherin.



Draco stirred from his sleep “Hermione?” Groggily he scanned her up and down, groaned and reached drunkenly for his cup and took another long gulp.



“Don\'t you think you\'ve had enough?” Hermione asked as she placed her hands on her hips



“No, I have no limits, not that you care” Draco slurred and took another drink



Hermione quickly snatched the glass from his reach and drank the contents, the cool liquid flowed like liquid fire down her throat. Draco glared as he saw his empty glass.



“You have made it quite clear; your actions have indicated to me that you have no limits ferret. That includes sleeping with a certain person\'s best friend.” Hermione hissed, then reached for the bottle of fire whiskey, refilled the glass and adding a couple of cubes of ice, and dropped into the overstuffed chair beside the couch.



“That, that was a mistake” Draco mumbled.



“How unfortunate” Hermione swirled the liquor slowly with her finger.



“Why is it unfortunate?” Draco leaned forward placing his head in his hands.



“For many reasons” Hermione rose from her seat and stood in front of Draco.



Long legs came into his line of vision and he slowly followed their luscious trail, his eyes reached her skirt, for a moment he envied it, \'damn skirt gets to cling to her hips all day, I wish I was that skirt…wait did ? Yes I did\'. His eyes made his way up and found her eyes. \'mmm those eyes, I\'d like to see them staring up at me while she\'s sucking me off\' Draco groaned.



Hermione looked down at the Slytherin, “Look at you, you have the world at your finger tips and here you are drinking your life away, all because you can\'t handle the challenges thrown in your direction, you\'re pitiful.” a twinge of guilt tugged at her conscience but she quickly dismissed the feeling. The bastard had hurt her and her friend, sure Ginny was as guilty as he was, but that was no excuse.



Draco stood from his seat “Don\'t pretend like you know me Granger.” he snarled



Hermione took a step forward closing the gap between them. “Or what Malfoy?”



\'Damn that Gryffindor courage, she\'s looking for a fight, and you know it, don\'t be an idiot you\'ve messed up enough, if you ever want to get back in her good graces you know you have to be the bigger person and walk away”



Draco sighed and stepped back “Or nothing, talk all you want, your words don\'t phase me Granger.” Draco waved his hand dismissing her words, turned and began to walk toward his room.



Hermione growled, this is not what she wanted, she wanted to fight and all he did was dismiss her and walk away.



\'No you can\'t just walk away from this one\' Hermione chased after him “YOU…YOU …,YOU COWARD!!” she yelled “Again turning away from your challenges, how predictable.” She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.



Draco turned to face her “Taking classes from Pansy are we?” he snorted, she wanted him to react and despite the nagging voice in his head, he decided if attention was what she wanted then attention was what she was going to get.



“Don\'t compare me to one of your brainless twits Malfoy, she doesn\'t even compare to me.” she lifted her chin triumphantly.



Draco smirked “Is that so?”



Hermione\'s eyes narrowed “That tramp isn\'t even in the same league as I am.”



Draco knew she was right, Pansy was the door knob of Hogwarts; everyone and anyone had had a turn. “Aren\'t we the arrogant one?” Draco said with a smirk.



“You, Malfoy” She said as she poked her index finger into his chest “Go prancing around the castle as if you\'re superior above all others yet you choose that hag over a respectable woman.”



“First of all Granger I do not prance, and second of all I didn\'t chose that hag, and thirdly -” He was slowly taking steps toward her after every word, once he had her cornered he leaned in and whispered “I did pick a respectable woman, but at the moment she is furious and wants nothing to do with me.”



The feeling of his lips threatening to brush against the shell of her ear sent shivers coursing throughout her body. She was beyond furious but her heart told her otherwise, she couldn\'t deny him, that and the alcohol didn\'t help.



“If you think your sweet words are going to get you out of this one you are wrong Malfoy!” Hermione hissed



“Those were not my intentions and if you want me to leave then say it, tell me you never want to see me again and I assure you, you won\'t.” Draco prayed that she wouldn\'t, that was the last thing he wanted, a life with her was like a life with joy, and a life without joy was no life at all. He loved that know it all attitude, and the fire that burned within her, she was passionate, more passionate then any other witch he\'d come across.



Hermione looked away and then back at him, then away and back again. “Draco you hurt me, you hurt Harry. I thought we had something, but you went and sought another woman when I was only a few feet away.” Tears began to fill her eyes; Draco wiped them away with the calloused pad of his thumb, her pleading eyes asking for answers “Why Draco? Why?” Tears were now streaming down her cheeks.



Draco\'s heart ached, he had hurt her, all those times she had called him a heartless git, and she had been 100% correct. “I\'m really sorry Hermione, I\'m not going to go and make excuses because I know nothing can justify my actions, but I want you to know that I am sorry.” Hermione looked at him, unsure of what to say or do next. Draco cupped her face in his hands and looked into her eyes, the anger and rage had subsided and all that remained were tears of sadness.



Hermione looked into his eyes, for the first time the pools of silver weren\'t filled with pride, instead every word he said reflected in his eyes. Her heart skipped a beat, she wanted to forgive him but he had hurt her so badly. She sighed and looked down at her shoes, for once in her life she didn\'t know what to say.



Draco lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. “I understand if you choose not to speak to me ever again but I want you to know that for the past two weeks all I\'ve thought about is you. Every second of every day I wished I could take my actions back. Hermione, I miss you. I want you. Please?” His eyes were tearing into her soul, she wanted to say \'yes I forgive you\', but it wasn\'t that easy. She looked down unable to look into those eyes, knowing if she held his gaze any longer she would cave.



Draco sighed “Think about it, okay? You know where to find me.” He placed a small kiss on her forehead and went up to his room, leaving Hermione in silence.



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Late nights in the library had become almost a ritual for Ginny, after the \'incident\' occurred and Harry had confronted her with some not so kind words. She had found that the library was the only place she could think. Ginny sighed and placed her head on the table, the feel of the cool wood eased the aching of her tear stained face. The words he had said to her were something she never thought she\'d here, much less from Harry. The memory replayed over and over in her mind.



~~Flashback~~



Ginny sat looking out at the lake, memories of Harry replaying themselves over and over. “I\'m a bloody fool” Ginny thought. She brought her knees up to her chest and began to sob.



“Hi Ginny” a raspy voice spoke behind her.



Ginny couldn\'t bring herself to look at him, she knew that he knew and she couldn\'t stand to look at him.



“Ginny, we need to talk.” Harry sat beside her, leaving a reasonable amount of distance between them.



“Harry, I know you know, and I\'m sorry I wasn\'t the one to tell you, I -”



Harry raised his hand in silence “I don\'t want to hear your pitiful excuses Ginny, you messed up big time, and I\'m not sure if we can come back from this one. I can handle your mood swings, and anything you throw at me, but this?”



Tears silently crept down her face, she quickly wiped them away “Harry, he means nothing to me, it was a mistake.”



“Was it Ginny? You were the one always saying how amazingly good looking he was, and stealing glances every chance you had.”



Ginny began to speak but Harry stopped her. “Don\'t think I don\'t have ears Ginny?”



Ginny couldn\'t bring herself to say anything, she knew she was in the wrong and anything she said would only make the situation worse.



“You know I thought that we had something, something special” Harry fiddled with something he had in his hands “I\'m not going to lie; I thought you were the one. Yes, I heard what you said about him and the way you looked at him but I always thought \'oh she is only looking no harm in that\'. Then you pulled this little stunt” Ginny looked over at him, he was looking at the object in his hands with a sad smile, “and the sad part is…that it all happened before I even had a chance to show you how much I loved you. Before I had a chance to give myself to you.”



Ginny clung on to his every word, she noticed how the words thought and love were all in past tense and it tore her apart, the knot in her stomach tightened, tears were threatening to show themselves once again, and still she couldn\'t bring herself to say a word.



Harry handed her the item he had been holding, Ginny looked at the item, it was picture of her and Harry sitting under a tree by the lake. She remembered that day like it was yesterday, it was one of their first dates. Ginny began to sob into her hands, she looked back at the picture; the smiling face waving back at her. That day had been perfect, if only they could go back to that time, before stupid mistakes had been made.



“You know I actually feel sorry for you, but don\'t even begin to think that we have any hope, the second you allowed him to touch you, you threw all that out the window, we are done Ginny. You\'ll never know what it would\'ve been like, you and me together, in that way...” Harry stood up from his seat “you hurt me, and I hate you for it.”



Ginny sobbed and watched him leave. Somewhere in the distance she could hear thunder and lightening striking, echoing the feelings inside of her, but she didn\'t care. All she wanted to do was disappear.



~End Flashback~



Tears began to fall slowly onto the surface of the table. A small pool of tears had begun to develop and the only thing she could think about was Harry, she missed him more and more each day. She held the picture in her hands, the edges were now a little torn and the picture was wrinkled but she didn\'t care. The picture showed her and Harry when they were happy, when they were together, when she was something more then a memory. Tears began to fall and out of a nowhere a hand holding a white silk piece of fabric came into her line of vision. Ginny slowly looked up, and a sad smile appeared on her face.



“Hi Ginny” Harry spoke softly.



“Hi” Ginny whispered.



Harry again offered the handkerchief; Ginny took it and blew her nose in it. She looked up at Harry with a concerned look on her face.



“Don\'t worry about it.” Harry said and took the seat across from her.



“Ginny I know I said some unkind words, and I let my temper get to me but I want you to know that I miss you.” Harry looked up at her, Ginny\'s eyes had brightened significantly, he really wanted to reach out and touch her but he knew he shouldn\'t, not yet.



“I want us to start over, no bringing up the past, what\'s done is done. Just you and me, together. We\'ll take it slow ok”



Ginny smiled “That sounds great Harry, I\'m really-”



“What\'s done is done Ginny, you don\'t need to apologize.”



“Okay.” Ginny whispered



Harry smiled and reached for her hand “I\'ll see you at breakfast tomorrow ok?” Ginny nodded and watched as Harry rounded the corner and walked out of the library.

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hope you enjoyed chapter 5! dont forget to review!!



i\'d like to thank my awesome beta luvhp for putting up with me lol!!

and to all the reviewers you guys are great!!!!