Queen of Gorgeousness

The Years That Follow

Chapter Twenty- Three - The Years That Follow

"You know you were wrong right?"

"Excuse me?"

"Hermione, you thought of no one but yourself and you almost died. Think of all the people you worried and all the people who could have helped you if you'd but just asked."

"I did ask Draco, I badgered and pestered but was told it was none of my business."

"You know as well as I that you could have badgered us further. You could have made us see sense. You gave up Hermione and you took the easy way out."

"You think it's easy being me? I was friends with Harry and Ron for seven years and not once did they have my back in anything that I did. Excuse me for wanting to protect myself from further harm."

"That's bull and you know it. Don't compare us to Harry and Ron because that is totally unfair. We're so different from those two idiots and to put us all in the same boat is an insult."

"Draco that's not—"

"No, if you won't listen to me, I'll make you listen to the others."

He grabbed her hands and dragged her out of his room and down into the common room. Everyone was gathered on the upper class 'designated' sofas there. They all looked up to the confused and defiant expression of Hermione and the angry yet determined expression of Draco.

"What's up you two?" asked Blaise.

"Will you each please tell Hermione how stupid she was for acting the way she did with finding her Father. She seems to think that she did nothing wrong and that all her actions are justified. Personally I don't understand it but if she won't listen to me then maybe she'll listen to her friends."

"Is that true Hermione? You really don't see your wrong doings?"

Hermione sulked in her chair but didn't commit to saying a word.

"Hermione you really hurt all of us when you went off half cocked. Putting Pansy in the position of knowing but not being able to tell others was unfair as well. We all thought we had moved on after the war. We proved that anyone could become friends and were making new lives for ourselves. I never thought you'd pull a Harry and run into something head first without thinking of the consequences. You didn't even give us a choice in the matter and we were thrust head first into the battle ground. We battled for you and for ourselves and it wasn't fair of you to thrust that upon us," said Neville.

"I didn't ask you to come after me."

"Hermione do you hear yourself? We're your friends, I'm your brother and Draco's your boyfriend. Of course we were going to come after you."

Still she sulked. She felt like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. She didn't want to admit for a moment that they were right because that would mean that she had been wrong.

"You need to face the facts Hermione. You hurt each and every one of us with your actions. We aren't going to moan and complain about things but you need to realise the implications of your actions before we can all move on."

"It wasn't supposed to be this way," mumbled Hermione.

"Life rarely is," said Adrian.

"Look Hermione. We get it, you've been though a lot this year. Let me tell you where you went wrong."

Hermione glared at Pansy for she knew that whatever the next words were going to be, she wasn't going to like them very much.

"You have been hiding behind this new image of yourself for months now. I get it, I really do. We were all scarred from the war, both emotionally and physically. You found out you were adopted and went through a physical change and an opportunity presented itself. You used your new looks as a shield to navigate your new world in. With us you acted like Hermione Zabini but in your head you were still Hermione Granger. You didn't realise that you were both Hermione's and if you had perhaps all this could have been avoided. Stop stretching yourself too thin and stop judging yourself for the world you now live in. You made a mistake Hermione, and we all made mistakes concerning you this year. Now are you going to get off your high horse and apologise for your mistakes or are we going to continue to deal with a stroppy toddler?"