The Tragedy of Chemistry (DM/HG)

Roses

Monday

Flourish and Blotts

Hermione sighed as she dropped onto a bench in the furthest corner of the shop. The new arrivals for the week piled up neatly next to her. She tried to avoid Pansy's gaze from across the narrow aisle where she already sat with a smug grin on her face.

"How is blondie?"

Hermione shrugged her shoulders whilst her best friend eyed her curiously. She had come to get the gossip; but she had nothing to report.

"A shrug? Really?! That's what I get for having my party ruined by that nutter?"

Hermione's eyes shot up in shock.

"It wasn't Draco's fault."

Pansy rolled her eyes.

"Don't get your knickers all twisted... I was talking about Weasley."

"Oh..." Hermione had done it again; assumed that everybody thought it had been Draco's fault. That he had been the one to provoke the fight. She still didn't know what exactly had happened Saturday night, but his reaction had told her more than words could have. He had been hurt by her ignorant assumptions.

"So? What was he thinking? I swear when I see him again, I'm going to personally hex him to pieces. Draco must be livid... can't believe he didn't even have his wand at ready."

"I don't know, Pansy. He didn't want to talk about it."

Hermione's heart felt heavy when she thought about the look on his face when she had confronted him. She looked away quickly to not see her friend's reaction.

"Are you sure he's alright?" Pansy's eyebrows were raised higher than Hermione thought humanly possible when dared to take another look at her.

"I mean, don't get me wrong. I love Draco like a brother these days, but he's prone to dwell in fictional descriptions of how he barely escaped his grave. May I remind you how long it took him to get over a scratch on his arm from this Hippogriff in third year?"

"I asked him what happened, and we ended up fighting about nothing."

Pansy kept quiet for a while; a rare occasion to make Hermione feel even more anxious. She frowned and began to tie her hair in a knot to busy her hands. She felt defeated just thinking about the fight again.

"Well at least he couldn't keep his eyes off you the entire evening. Did you notice?"

Words that could have been intended to tease a reaction from her were spoken too softly to be meant to sting.

Hermione had eventually admitted to Pansy on Saturday that she had fallen for Draco. Her feelings for him were far more intense than anything she'd experienced before. It was addicting and frustrating at the same time. Here she was, licking her wounds like an animal after she had done the one thing he had asked her not to do: to fall for him. She just hadn't been able to deny her heart the ache.

Pansy continued with a gleam of excitement in her soft voice, "He said he thinks you're amazing."

"He told you that?" Her heart skipped a beat at imagining him say the words, but she had fallen for her naïve heart just days ago. When he had said he'd never felt anything like this – when she had thought for just a moment that he reciprocated her feelings for him. Just to find that he had meant the thrill of fucking her specifically. It had been humbling; and Pansy's words threatened to be one of those misunderstandings.

"Not exactly," Pansy shrugged her shoulders. "I told him you're amazing and he agreed."

"You promised me not to say anything to him! Pansy!?" Hermione's voice broke in disbelief. She wasn't sure if the shame for her one-sided feelings were bigger than the betrayal.