The Battle of the Highest (Dramione)

Chapter 9: Second Clue

*DRACO*

I wake up and get dressed into a navy v-neck t-shirt and some dark jeans. I shove my hands into my front pockets and walk over to Hermione's room, peeking in through the small crack I had made to look in. She isn't there.

I find myself longing for her every minute now. I always check along the corridors and in the prefect's house and in the Great Hall, but she isn't ever there. She said yesterday that she would be released from the hospital wing.

I walk into the Great Hall, wondering if she's back yet. And there she is, her bushy brown hair tied into a messy bun, sitting at the Gryffindor table picking at her food. I smile and walk up to her. She jumps when I put my hands on her shoulders. She turns around to face me and she smiles, then she pulls my face to hers and she kisses me. Instantly, my loneliness and unhappiness and washed away from her heat.

"You're back, I see," I say once I break away from her.

"I'm glad I am," she says. "But I have some news."

I frown. "Now what?"

"Madame Pomfrey said to avoid anything involving tight spaces and running too much. I told her it would be difficult to avoid that, considering I'm in The Battle of the Highest."

"Yes... Well, we'll just have to figure out what to do about the next challenge."

"Speaking of we..." Hermione says, twiddling her thumbs, "I've been thinking... And I don't know if us being a thing is the best idea."

"What?!" I say in shock. "You can't be serious."

"But I am, Draco! I don't think that we should be together right now, especially during this stupid tournament. I want to stop this before someone else does."

"What do you mean by that?" I ask.

"I mean, people like the Ministry can make a challenge to purposely get us to separate. I'd rather protect the both of us by splitting up now than other people do that for us."

"So does that mean we can't talk, or just be friends, or ignore each other, or do we need to make a potion that makes us forget...?"

"No!" she cries desperately. "I would never want to forget you, never. I mean, we can still be friends, but not a couple."

I hang my head. "Okay then." I trudge over to the Slytherin table and slump onto the bench.

*HERMIONE*

How could I do this to Draco? I really didn't want to say that, but it's better that we're not together for the next couple of days or weeks. Why did McGonagall have to tell me that? She said that I have to stay apart from him until the end of the tournament, but she never told me why. She must not have told me to protect me against something. I shake my head. I need to forget my feelings for a while. "Your attention please!" McGonagall says at the front of the room. I glare at her.

"I have information on the second challenge of The Battle of the Highest. It will be sometime next week, probably on Friday. To my competitors..."

She looks around at the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin tables.

"Prepare for your fears to be heightened."

Just like before the first challenge, there was an outrage and the students were stepping over each other trying to get to McGonagall, but she had vanished. I stand up, pushing my chair in with a loud screech, and fled the room, walking back to the prefect's house.

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Yes, a little short, but I didn't think that going on in this chapter would be good. Sorry! Another chapter soon to come!