Her Sweet, Decadent Smile(A Harry Potter Story)

Chapter 5

Hermione was in a state of paranoia again, pacing around the living room like some mad woman ready to murder anyone she could get her hands on. She was pulling her soft, curly locks and shouting obscenities in the air. She was jumpy and shaky and she felt as if the whole world was out to get her. Her best friend was seated on the couch, rubbing his temples roughly. He looked like he was in immense pain... or positively constipated.

"—and then he has the nerve to say he wanted nothing, NOTHING—!" she yelled, her voice abnormally high-pitched in uncontrolled anger. "It's just not—just—AGH!"

She grabbed a pillow from the couch and slapped it furiously to her face to muffle her shrill screams.

"Hermione," Harry said, eyeing her pacing form tiredly. "You're making me dizzy. Will you just calm down for a moment?"

"Calm do—How can I calm down when he's obviously using this as a ploy to get to me?" she moaned in frustration.

Hours and hours of research and reading contexts would do her no good this time. Draco was a complicated being. He had a different way of thinking, of doing things, and although his methods were extremely immoral and downright inhumane, she could not deny that they were effective.

She felt absolutely stupid when compared to him.

"What am I going to do!"

"Breathe," Harry suggested, as if it was that simple. She glared at him and then continued her frivolous pacing. "Look, there's no use avoiding him, since it's obviously not going to work. Just be on guard. Oh, hang on." Harry waved his wand and out of nowhere a muggle pen and a piece of paper appeared. He started writing quickly.

"What are you doing?"

"Sending a note to my associates," he said as he continued to scribble on. "We'll have your flat and your office warded, so he can't use dark arts if he gets inside."

"That's not going to stop him."

Harry glared at her. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

He whistled and a black owl flew in through the open window and into his lap. He tied the letter to its leg and it flew off. "I've done some investigating and it turns out that for the whole five years he'd disappeared, he'd been staying in Muggle France."

"Muggle France?" Hermione stopped her strides momentarily. "Draco Malfoy? Pureblood Supremacist, living a muggle life?" She looked at Harry as if he was joking.

"Yes, no wonder we couldn't find him. It was the last place we would ever think to look," Harry concluded.

Placing her palm on her forehead, Hermione gazed at her best friend more closely and frowned. He really looked exhausted and miserable and there were bags under his startlingly green eyes, tell-tale signs of lack of sleep. Hermione suddenly felt a pang of guilt build in her chest.

If it weren't for her, he wouldn't have been dragged into this mess.

She always caused trouble for everyone.

"What?" Harry looked at her questioningly, noticing her sudden silence. She shook her head and stared at the floor. She could feel Harry's eyes on her. "You do know that this isn't your fault, don't you?"

She didn't say anything. He was wrong. If it weren't for her so many people would still be alive today.

"Listen to me, Hermione. You are not a bad person. You're a very good person who bad things have happened to, you understand?" Harry told her in a serious tone. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight. "It's not your fault. Now, tell me exactly how it happened again."