Stay By My Side ✅ (Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy)

Kiss Me Now

Hermione POV

I watched in utter disbelief as Draco rolled up his sleeve, revealing the Dark Mark on his arm to every single person in this room. I looked around me and examined people's different reactions. Some had discomfort written across their faces, others were horrified, A few Ravenclaw girls started to cry, Neville Longbottom looked as though this was the most interesting thing he has seen all year and Seamus Finnigan’s jaw looked like it was going to drop onto the table at any moment. My attentions turned back to Draco who had an unreadable expression on his face as he pointed his marked arm towards a clearly confused Blaise. Why was he doing this?

“You are just like the rest of them.” Draco says in repulsion. “Expecting me to be something I’m not. I never wanted to be this way. They made me. Why can’t anyone ever understand that?” He point down to his arm clearly indicating what he is talking about.

“Mate you don’t have to-“

“I am NOT your mate.” Draco snaps. He quickly rolls down his sleeve and grips onto his arm. “I am nothing.”

The atmosphere changed once Draco stormed out of the Great Hall. Everyone just resumed their chatter without a care in the world. His words etched into my mind, ‘I am nothing’. I felt anger and devastation rolled into one. Nobody in this room will ever understand the extent of Draco’s suffering. I understood what he meant by ‘I am nothing’. It is because he has been treated like he is nothing, by his family for most of it and his Father forcing him into doing unspeakable acts. My heart went out for Draco Malfoy. There was nothing I wanted more at this moment than to hold him and comfort him. He is probably one of the most misunderstood people I’ve ever met and it saddened me to think that nobody will ever get that.

“Well… that was dramatic.” Ginny says casually. “I don’t know if I even feel like eating now. I never knew he still had that… thing.” She shifted uncomfortably.

I sighed. “Yeah, it’s always been there. It can’t be removed either.”

Ginny cautiously leans towards me. “You can go after him if you want, I don’t mind.”

I raised my eyebrows in question. “What?”

Ginny half smiled. “You keep looking towards the door and I can tell you want to talk to him. Go ahead. I’ll talk to you later okay?”

“I can never let things get past you huh?” I laughed as I stood up. “Thanks, I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Fill me when you have time.”

“Of course.”

**

I arrived to the Head Boy and Girl room five minutes later and I got extremely nervous as I turned the handle to the door. Was he still angry? Was he going to snap? I guess I was going to find out. I swung the door open immediately and I saw him lying on the couch staring up to the ceiling. My body broke out into a cold sweat as I slowly entered the room and shut the door. My feet stayed firmly in place in the same spot. I dared not to move. He ditched his school uniform and was now wearing black pants and a white buttoned up shirt.

“I was wondering when you’d come back.” He says still staring blankly to the ceiling.

“I… I was worried for you and wanted to makesure you were okay.” I mumble shyly. My eyes linger over his face and I notice some light purple bruising on his jaw. “Your face… what happened?”

“Got into a fight with some idiot.” He tells me flatly.

I groaned loudly in frustration. “I’m sure the ceiling is extremely fascinating but please, I’d much rather you look at me when I’m trying to talk to you.” His lips pulled into a smile as he pulled his gaze away from the ceiling and turned to me. He raised his eyebrows as if to say ‘Better?’. “Much better. Now why did you fight someone?”